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- BIG STORY: Why June 28 is a big deal in South Carolina
- MORE NEWS: State’s top court hears gerrymandering arguments
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Worse than offshore drilling
- BRACK: On turning off the incessant hum of politics
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Back next week
- FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
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Why June 28 is a big deal in South Carolina
By Skyler Baldwin | Cities across the Palmetto State will come alive this weekend with celebrations and commemorations for Carolina Day. You can join parades, festivals, lectures and reenactments to honor the 249th anniversary of the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, the first major naval victory of the American Revolution.
South Carolina, in fact, is at the heart of the Revolution. Nearly a third of all battles and skirmishes took place in South Carolina. And on June 28, 1776, South Carolina patriots defended a makeshift fort on Sullivan’s Island.
Built with palmetto logs that absorbed the shock of British cannons, it repelled a powerful British fleet offensive, preserving Charleston and boosting colonial morale days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The unfinished fort boasted only 31 cannons with which a garrison of soldiers repelled nine man-of-war ships with nearly 300. The victory is a tale of underdog victory that showed leaders in the American colonies that the fight for freedom from British tyranny was winnable
According to the S.C. Encyclopedia, the fort would have been a square with 500-foot-long walls with a bastion at each corner. Builders placed thousands of palmetto logs in two parallel walls 16 feet apart. Between the walls were tons of sand. By the time of the battle, only two walls and bastions were complete, and only 400 soldiers were stationed at the fort. Another 300 stood at the north end of the island to keep British marines from crossing Breach Inlet.
On June 8, the British fleet demanded surrender, which was rejected. And on June 28, warships advanced on the fort and began firing just before noon. The fort’s guns responded, and the cannonfire continued through the evening. Despite taking heavy fire, the fort survived with little damage. The interwoven fibers of the palmetto logs and the thick berm of sand between them absorbed the shock of British volleys.
The less-pliable ships, however, did not. Patriot cannons severely damaged two British ships and moderately damaged two more. A fifth was scuttled after it ran aground in the mud.
British troops ultimately saw more than 200 casualties, compared to only 40 among patriots. It wasn’t long before the Royal Navy withdrew, and the unnamed fort was named to honor its commander, Col. William Moultrie. Now, the site is part of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park.
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- Learn more: scmuseum.org
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What’s happening where it actually happened
The observance of the unofficial holiday in Charleston begins downtown with several longstanding Palmetto Society events.
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- 10 a.m.: Carolina Day service at St. Michael’s Church. 71 Broad St.
- 11 a.m.: Community gathering in Washington Park. 80 Broad St.
- 11:30 a.m.: Carolina Day Parade steps off from Washington Park, featuring more than 30 historic, military, civic and cultural units. The parade concludes at White Point Garden.
- Noon: S.C. 250 Commissioner Ben Zeigler of Florence will give remarks, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at White Point Garden. 2 Murray Blvd.
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Meanwhile, Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island hosts a free family festival from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday to commemorate the holiday. The festival features musket and artillery demonstrations, colonial games, indigo-dyeing, authors’ talks and more. Key moments include a flag-raising at 10 a.m. and a dramatic reenactment of Sgt. William Jasper’s flag rescue at 3 p.m.
The Holy City’s celebrations conclude at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park, where gates open at 5 p.m. for a Charleston RiverDogs game against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Revolutionary War interpreters will greet fans, fire ceremonial cannons and lead colonial children’s games between innings. Finally, a 250-drone light show of Revolutionary imagery will follow the final out. Tickets are available at riverdogs.com.
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- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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Top state court hears gerrymandering arguments
By Jack O’Toole | When South Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state’s 1st Congressional District map in 2022, few denied one goal was to make it easier for a Republican — specifically, incumbent U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace — to win the seat.
In fact, state officials argued exactly that when the district lines were unsuccessfully challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court last year, telling the court that the legislature’s intent in moving 30,000 Black voters out of the district was to disadvantage Democrats — not African Americans who happen to be Democrats.
This week, the League of Women Voters of South Carolina (LWVSC) asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in, arguing that such undisputed partisan gerrymandering violates the state constitution’s promise that every voter “shall have an equal right to elect officers.”
That language, argued ACLU attorney Allen Chaney on behalf of LWVSC, guarantees South Carolinians not just a right to vote, but a right to have their votes count as much as any other citizen’s. Partisan gerrymandering, he told the court, violates that right by intentionally diluting the impact of some votes while enhancing the impact of others.
In response, lawyers for the legislature and GOP Gov. Henry McMaster argued the state constitution gives lawmakers exclusive authority to draw district lines, meaning the court cannot second-guess their decisions. What’s more, the attorneys said, even if the justices disagreed with the exclusive authority argument, it would be unwise for the court to intervene in the complex “political thicket” of redistricting, which the court does not have the expertise to adjudicate.
For their part, the justices generally seemed hesitant to get involved, peppering Chaney with questions about what standard they could use to distinguish between a legal district with a natural Democratic or Republican majority and an illegally gerrymandered one.
“Intent,” Chaney answered, telling the justices that a violation occurs anytime “the state says, ‘You have to go vote there so that you don’t affect the outcome that we’re trying to achieve [here].’”
The court has not given an indication of when it will rule in the case.
In other recent news
Wilson officially enters governor’s race. South Carolina’s four-term Republican attorney general, Alan Wilson, kicked off his campaign for the state’s first open gubernatorial race in 16 years.
S.C. Supreme Court temporarily halts pay raise for legislators. The S.C. Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction to halt an $18,000-a-year pay raise for legislators from taking effect while it reviews a constitutional challenge to the hike. The case was brought by York County GOP Sen. Wes Climer, who argues that legislators are explicitly barred from raising their pay without an intervening election.
State senator’s derelict boat salvaged, destroyed after year-long abandonment. Charleston Sen. Matt Leber’s boat, Rebellion, was removed from the Stono River and destroyed as part of a larger multi-agency effort to clean up derelict boats in Charleston waterways. Leber called the removal a “family tragedy,” saying he could not afford the cost of removal and repair. The situation came to light after Leber voted earlier this year to stiffen penalties for abandoned boat owners.
Suspended S.C. lawmaker assigned public defender. Suspended state Rep. RJ May, R-Lexington, has been assigned a federal public defender as he faces 10 counts of distributing child sex abuse material. May is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange more than 200 different files of minors involved in sex acts on social message app Kik from March 30-April 4, 2024.
Combined health agency will streamline care, state leaders say. A bill that Gov. Henry McMaster signed in April created the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities by combining three agencies — the departments of mental health, disabilities, and alcohol and drug abuse services — into one. State leaders, including McMaster, say the combined department will allow better care for residents with substance abuse disorders, disabilities and mental health needs.
25 states restrict AI in elections; S.C. isn’t one of them. South Carolina enters the 2026 campaign season without any state laws preventing political candidates from using artificial intelligence to make unfounded attacks against their opponents.
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Worse than offshore drilling
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, he takes on the whole mess of the feds redoing a plan that may consider drilling for oil and gas off the state’s coast.
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- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
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On turning off the incessant hum of politics
By Andy Brack | Perhaps the most delightful thing about vacationing in France this year was something beyond the great food, spectacular culture, lush vistas and kind people.
The best thing about this year’s time away from the United States was not having to hear about Donald Trump and politics every time you turn a corner. Maybe it’s not until one gets away for a bit that you realize how inundated and exhausted we are by politics through social media, television, radio, newspapers and all of the messaging that slams into our brains daily. Being able to mostly turn that off for a few days has been a vacation in and of itself.
Sure, we heard about the sudden bombing of Iran, the New York mayor’s race and the not unexpected announcement by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson that he is running for governor.
But what’s been joyously missing is the rat-a-tat-tat of people dissecting every little aspect of what Trump and his administration are doing – even though they often just seem to make up stuff as they go along to respond to whatever is in the daily news cycle.
So maybe the best vacation advice of the year – either inside the U.S. or out – is to turn off social media and television for a few days to get away from the incessant hum and chatter of politics. It will be good for your soul.
IN FRANCE, my younger daughter and I had a good time visiting Paris, Bordeaux and several small villages along the Dordogne River. Here are some observations:
Air-conditioning. We visited during an unexpected heat wave in a part of the world that doesn’t do air-conditioning well. In one hotel, the lowest setting for the A/C was 76 degrees– and it was still humid. In an apartment we rented briefly, the 18-inch-thick walls did a great job of keeping out the heat, but it was still warm inside. To get cooler, we bought a $30 fan.
Food. Once you eat bread baked by the French, you won’t want the schlock that most Americans eat. It’s fresh, clean-tasting, hearty and inexpensive – as are wine, cheese and more. While you can still get junk in larger grocery stores, it’s interesting to look at how there are far fewer ingredients listed on packaging. Everything seems less processed.
Coffee. It’s just better. Anywhere you go in France – except maybe train stations – has better coffee than you generally get in the U.S. The portion sizes, however, are tiny.
Markets. Villages thrive on weekly markets where you can get everything from canned duck and the sweetest strawberries to olives, nuts, cheese, fish, meat, clothing, jewelry and all kinds of knick-knacks. We didn’t see a lot of Chinese-made junk.
Transportation. The high-speed trains between big cities are way cool. It took 2.3 hours to go 350 miles from Paris to Bordeaux, for example. Ubers are affordable. Trams are easy. But driving in a rented car on narrow French country roads can be exhausting.
Smoking. About the only disappointing part of some local restaurants were smokers at outside tables. While smoking doesn’t appear as ubiquitous here as it once was, it’s noticeable and makes one think about how much more pleasant restaurants are in the U.S. since smoking has been banned.
Guns. The culture isn’t permissive or obsessive on guns. People weren’t walking around with them. Gun shops were rare – most likely because of how hard it is to get hunting rifles here. About the only guns we saw were among trios of police officers in high-traffic tourist areas.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Back next week
We’re taking a couple of weeks off and will be back just in time for July 4. If you have a good mystery stumper to share with fellow readers, send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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Please send us your thoughts about politics and policy in South Carolina, but make sure to leave phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We publish non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your views.
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
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- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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