U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman picked the former leader of the state House’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus as his running mate, the GOP candidate for governor announced Monday.
Norman’s choice of former Rep. Adam Morgan, a Greenville County business owner and founding chair of the hardline legislative group, marks the second official pick for lieutenant governor in the contentious six-way race for the Republican nomination for governor.
And in his endorsement of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, President Donald Trump indicated she planned to pick the governor’s son, Henry McMaster Jr., calling that a “BIG added plus for Pam.” But Evette’s campaign has not confirmed what Trump wrote Friday he’d “heard.”
Norman, a member of the congressional House Freedom Caucus, positioned his choice as a way of bucking norms and setting his campaign apart on the political spectrum.
“Together, we’re building what may be the most conservative ticket this state has ever seen,” the Rock Hill Republican said in a statement.
Norman and Morgan helped found the state’s Freedom Caucus in spring 2022. Norman attended the Statehouse news conference announcing its launch.
Morgan was chair as the fledgling caucus split from the established House Republican Caucus over a rule that barred working to oust fellow Republicans in the chamber. The rule change following the 2022 elections was directed at Rep. RJ May, a founding Freedom Caucus member who ran GOP campaigns as a political consultant. (May resigned last August before pleading guilty to distributing child sexual abuse material.)
The 2022 elections gave Republicans supermajority status in the House. But an escalating public feud between the two caucuses means floor debates often devolve into Republican-versus-Republican fights.
Rather than seek re-election to the state House in 2024, Morgan made an unsuccessful run against U.S. Rep. William Timmons for the 4th District. Timmons defeated Morgan by fewer than 2,300 votes in the GOP primary.
“For too long, the same politicians have made the same promises while Columbia becomes further and further disconnected from South Carolinians,” Morgan said in a statement. “Ralph and I are offering a different path.”
The Freedom Caucus prides itself on breaking with longstanding political conventions, pushing the majority GOP further to the right on socially conservative legislation and fighting state spending it doesn’t consider among the “core functions of government” the state should fund.
Norman, who is backed by former Gov. Nikki Haley, said he and Morgan together would fight for more spending on roads and bridges.
The governor in South Carolina doesn’t have unilateral spending authority. But the governor puts out recommendations annually and has line-item veto power once the Legislature completes its spending plan.
Norman is also advocating for term limits for legislators in a bid he says will “clean up Columbia.” That would require legislators passing a law to limit their terms. All previous attempts to do so have failed to gain traction, including legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Timmons while he was in the state Senate running for Congress.
“South Carolina doesn’t need another maintenance team for the status quo,” Norman said in a statement. “We need strong conservative leadership willing to challenge the political insiders and focus on real, tangible results.”
Morgan, of Taylors, is an attorney and president of Majesty Music Inc., a family-owned Christian music and book publishing company, where Norman made the announcement Monday.
Morgan is the second announced pick for lieutenant governor among the entire field of gubernatorial candidates. None of the three Democrats on the ballot have named a running mate.
Wilson picked Reichenbach, a Florence car dealership owner, in January.
Spokespeople for Evette and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace told the SC Daily Gazette they didn’t have any updates about their running mate choices.
Sen. Josh Kimbrell and a spokesperson for millionaire businessman Rom Reddy did not respond to calls requesting comment.
Norman, Mace and Kimbrell appeared in a debate on South Carolina’s public TV station Monday night. All six candidates initially agreed to the debate.
But the other three dropped out, starting Sunday with Evette, followed by Reddy and Wilson, according to South Carolina Educational Television.
The primary election is June 9. Early voting ends Friday.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com.
