It’s official: U.S. president Donald Trump has formally nominated South Carolina state representative Peter McCoy to become the next U.S. attorney for the Palmetto State. While the move is not surprising (we predicted it last August), obviously anything can happen with these appointments … and the timing of such announcements is usually a closely guarded White House secret.
In addition to submitting McCoy’s nomination, Trump was also reportedly expected to nominate a new federal judge for South Carolina – but that did not happen.
Instead, McCoy’s name was the lone South Carolina appointment included on a list of six nominations released by the White House late Wednesday.
We are waiting to see what happened with the other nomination …
If confirmed, the 41-year-old attorney would follow acting U.S. attorney Lance Crick – who has been leading this office since December. That’s when Sherri Lydon was confirmed as a U.S. district judge for South Carolina after spending a little over a year-and-a-half as U.S. attorney.
This news outlet has praised Lydon’s work on multiple occasions, although we have also pointed out how much more work she had remaining on her plate when she left office …
That work now falls to McCoy, an attorney and fifth-term lawmaker from Charleston, S.C.
McCoy has represented S.C. House District 115 (.pdf) since 2010 when he upset incumbent Democratic lawmaker Anne Peterson. Since 2019, McCoy has been chairman of the influential House judiciary committee.
Assuming he is confirmed, McCoy would vacate his seat in the legislature – presenting Democrats with an opportunity to pick up one of the few competitive seats in the entire S.C. General Assembly.
One Democrat, Eileen Dougherty, has already announced her intention to campaign for this seat.
His confirmation would also kick off a fight for his coveted committee chairmanship, which we previewed in this article.
Developing …
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