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Rankin Out of Touch


 

Luke Rankin is out of Touch with Voters


Horry County Senator Luke Rankin put himself in a political box last week that he will find it difficult to get out of as reelection time rolls around. With reform of the process which elects judges in the state being a hot topic among the voters and other elected officials, Rankin chose last week to voice support, in an hour-long speech on the Senate floor last week, for the current process.


As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Vice Chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, Rankin has a lot of say in who becomes judges in South Carolina. He probably can’t be blamed for wanting to keep that power in his hands.


However, 695,791 voters in the recent South Carolina Presidential Primary election answered a question included on the ballot of whether the current process of electing judges in the state should be reformed. Over 91 percent, 634,345 to be exact, said YES. When 9 out of every 10 voters disagree with the position of their elected official, that elected official is definitely out of touch with the wishes of those he is elected to represent.


American democracy is representative democracy. We elect people to represent us in legislative bodies. Rankin started his career as a Democrat for the first three terms of his service in the Senate. He switched to the Republican Party in 2004 when it became almost impossible for a Democrat to be elected from Horry County.


In the last few years, many of the voters around Horry County have been calling Rankin a RINO as his votes on issues have been counter to the general conservative bent in Horry County. He was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Constitutional Carry Bill which was signed into law last week.


Now Rankin will face strong opposition in the June 2024 Republican Primary for his Senate seat. Voters are already questioning whether the time has come to replace him with a more conservative, true Republican voice. Last week Rankin gave voters another reason to question his Republican credentials.

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