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by WILL FOLKS
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With less than a week to go before South Carolina Republican leaders gather to choose a new national party representative, sources familiar with the election say the tables have officially turned in favor of erstwhile underdog Tyson Grinstead.
The Richland County GOP chairman – whose candidacy was recently blessed by the White House – was originally viewed as a long-shot to capture South Carolina’s vacant seat on the Republican National Committee (RNC). Now? He’s reportedly in the driver’s seat as the race approaches its end.
The RNC is the governing body of the Republican Party – responsible for drafting the GOP platform and managing branding/fundraising for “Republican” candidates. It is comprised of 168 members, including a state party chairman, national executive committeeman and national executive committeewoman from all fifty states and U.S. territories.
South Carolina’s national executive committeeman for the past seventeen years was Glenn McCall, a retired banker from Rock Hill, S.C. who passed away suddenly last month.
In the aftermath of McCall’s death, former SCGOP chairman Chad Connelly was believed to be a shoo-in for the seat – and his candidacy has been aggressively backed by state party chairman Drew McKissick. Typically, party chairmen exert tremendous influence over the selection.
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This calculus appears to have gone out the window in the last two weeks, however, as Grinstead was reportedly summoned to Washington, D.C. and urged to campaign for the seat.
“Since returning from the White House, my team and I have been working nonstop to spread a message of unity within the party,” Grinstead told FITSNews. “I believe our fellow executive committee members understand that saving ‘First in the South’ requires the right relationships to get the job done. I’m excited for Saturday and feeling good about my vote count.”
One Grinstead backer told us he was comfortably ahead in the vote count following his visit to the White House.
“It is no longer a question of who our next RNC national committeeman will be,” the operative said. “It is now a matter of how wide a margin by which Tyson Grinstead wins. Both our executive committee members and the Trump Administration immediately recognized that he is far and above the best candidate for the job, and we look forward to the bridges that he will build within the party to benefit South Carolina for years to come.”
While Grinstead has momentum on his side, his campaign is nervously eyeing a political detonation in the Palmetto Lowcountry that could potentially send some shrapnel in his direction. As FITSNews exclusively reported over the weekend, state senator Matt Leber of Johns Island, S.C. was publicly accused by his wife – Charleston County school board member Michele Leber – of having an affair with his political strategist, Rebecca Madsen.
What does any of that have to do with the race for executive committeeman?
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Last fall, Madsen ran unsuccessfully for S.C. House District 79 in Richland County, drawing just 24.62% of the vote against Democrat winner Hamilton Grant. According to our sources, Madsen campaigned for this seat – a Democrat stronghold – as a favor to the local party, which is led by Grinstead.
While Grinstead does not appear to have been involved in the recruitment of Madsen, that’s not stopping his rivals from implying a connection.
“Are we to assume this is the sort of candidate his party recruits?” one Connelly supporter told FITSNews.
South Carolina’s GOP executive committee will meet ahead of the 2025 Silver Elephant Banquet this Saturday (August 9, 2025) in Columbia, S.C. and vote on the next national committeeman. As previously noted, the race will be decided by South Carolina GOP executive committee, which typically includes representatives from all 46 counties, the state’s two national executive committee members, the state party chairman and the state party’s first vice-chairman. That’s fifty-one total votes, which means a candidate must normally receive 26 votes to win. Because of McCall’s passing and some ongoing drama over the status of the Pickens County GOP, there are currently only 49 votes to be had – meaning a victorious candidate must claim 25 to win the election.
The eventual winner will also need to be approved by the RNC prior to taking office.
Once again, count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised of any new developments as this race advances…
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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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