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McMaster. Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster is sitting pretty these days as he was one of the first major elected officials in the country to back Donald Trump. If he wants to go to Washington, he probably can, but his possibilities of being the odds-on favorite for governor got a lot better this week.
Cigarette tax. Lawmakers are considering raising the state’s again-low cigarette tax to replenish state pension funds. It won’t be enough, but it won’t hurt. More.
Elliott. Hats off to Rep.-elect Jason Elliott, R-Greenville, and Upstate voters for electing the state’s first openly gay state representative. More.
New members. There are 26 new members of the General Assembly – eight state senators and 18 state representatives. Welcome.
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Pundits. Election prognosticators from the left (Andy Brack, Statehouse Report) and right (David Woodard, Clemson) got it wrong on the presidential election as Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton.
Obamacare. The millions who have health insurance under Obamacare face a grim future, but it might be harder to totally kill the program than first thought More. In South Carolina, some 217,000 people who get health subsidies would be hurt by the repeal of Obamacare. More.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!