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by WILL FOLKS
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Disgraced South Carolina state representative Robert John ‘RJ’ May III is now disgraced former South Carolina state representative RJ May.
May resigned his seat in the S.C. House of Representatives on Monday (August 11, 2025) – two months after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on ten counts of distributing child sex abuse material (CSAM, a.k.a. child pornography) over a messaging app.
May was denied bond on those charges, and is currently behind held for the feds at the Edgefield County detention center pending the resolution of the charges against him.
May’s resignation comes a little over a year after FITSNews first reported on the federal investigation into his alleged activities – and just days after we reported on his new life behind bars.
According to May’s former colleagues in the S.C. Freedom Caucus, his resignation is “long overdue.”
“The people of district 88 deserve true and honorable representation,” a statement from the caucus noted. “While we welcome this resignation, we strongly believe that the S.C. House should have acted to expel RJ May after he was indicted for such heinous crimes.”
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Caucus leaders called for May’s expulsion late last month, arguing “this matter can no longer wait.”
May was a co-founder of the Freedom Caucus and one of its chief strategists – running the campaigns of several of its members. His arrest last August came at arguably the zenith of the group’s political power in the Palmetto State – with the caucus beating back a seven-figure campaign which sought to oust its members from the S.C. House of Representatives.
Despite such a massive war chest arrayed against it, the caucus actually picked up seats during the 2024 election cycle.
The May scandal has blunted much of that momentum, though, as caucus leaders have been caught flat-footed in their response to the shocking news regarding their erstwhile colleague.
“Our hearts are with his victims and his innocent family and we pray for swift justice as this ugly chapter in the South Carolina House of Representatives comes to a close,” the caucus statement concluded.
Is it closed, though? Establishment “Republicans” have been hammering the caucus for months for failing to call out May after his alleged crimes first became public knowledge – and are hoping they can brand caucus members by association in the upcoming 2026 GOP primary elections.
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As exclusively reported by our Andy Fancher, May was arrested on June 11, 2025 on a ten-count federal indictment accusing him of distributing more than 220 CSAM videos under the alias “Joebidennnn69.” According to a stomach-turning 22-page motion (.pdf) from prosecutors, those videos included graphic footage involving the rape of infants and toddlers.
Last week, federal authorities arrested a traveling nurse in Oklahoma for receiving CSAM files from May. Christian Soto of Oklahoma City allegedly used the Kik messenger app under the alias “randomcouplehere” to communicate with May, who was operating under the username “joebidennnn69,” according to an affidavit accompanying the federal complaint.
May’s resignation triggers a vacancy in S.C. House District 88 (.pdf), which he had represented since November 9, 2020. May was suspended from office on June 12, 2025 – a day after his indictment.
Brian Duncan – who ran unsuccessfully against May as a petition candidate in 2024 – is among those who will seek the seat, according to a statement from his campaign.
Filing for May’s seat will open at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 29, 2025 and will close at the same time on Saturday, September 6, 2025. Partisan primary elections will be held on October 21, 2025, with runoff elections held two weeks later (on November 4, 2025), if necessary.
The special election itself will be held on December 23, 2025.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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4 comments
Have you noticed that pedophiles in Government are almost always Republican? The ones who call everybody ELSE “groomers”?
How long before Trump appoints him to a position?
Mr. Folks,
Your story lacks a fact checker… perhaps ‘Karen’ should be part of the Fitsnews team.
The Freedom Caucus said they were expecting their caucus to grown from 17 to 25.
‘Karen’ found the Freedom Caucus to be still at 17. ‘Karen’ could not verify that because their caucus membership is kept private despite their advocacy to be transparent.
During the 2024 election cycle, the SC Freedom Caucus was funded with millions of dollars from out-of-state dark money. ‘Karen’ found text messages from Texas and a Freedom Caucus group out of all places California targeting South Carolina GOP voters.
‘Karen’ is available to you and your Fitsnews crew as well.
Wow! The SC Freedumb Caucus has guts or at least they have thrown their iPhones out with their televisions and computers. Let’s rewind.
At a press conference, the following people stated:
Pace, “why are you asking that question (about May)? He is a member of the body and is a MEMBER IF THE FREEDUMB CAUCUS AS LONG AS HE IS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE!”
Cromer, when Pace was asked about May exclaimed, “UPSTANDING!”
Beech (elected pizza delivery guy), “IT WAS ABOUT GUN CHARGES!”
They had their chance to stand firmly against his actions- the COWARDS FAILED! Don’t cry now bc you are being held accountable. Own it. You are actually what is wrong with politics!!!!
Now they say, “ According to May’s former colleagues in the S.C. Freedom Caucus, his resignation is “long overdue.”
“The people of district 88 deserve true and honorable representation,” a statement from the caucus noted. “While we welcome this resignation, we strongly believe that the S.C. House should have acted to expel RJ May after he was indicted for such heinous crimes.”
What a freaking joke! The Freedumb Caucus playing childish games when children are being scarred for life. They should be ashamed.
Challenge: the Freedom Caucus should come forward and admit they were wrong and harmed children.