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Rankin Senate Issues Hurt Horry County Residents



Rankin Senate Issues Hurt Horry County Residents

By Dennis Mitchell


A recent article by a Columbia news outlet claimed senators are looking to change SC Senate rules in order to remove Horry County Sen. Luke Rankin from his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 


The desire to remove Rankin from the committee chairmanship apparently results from his opposition, during the last session, to the SC Justice Act, which proposed to amend liability law to make each defendant in a personal injury lawsuit liable only for their percentage of liability that led to the injury or loss. The passage of the act was important to small business owners, especially those in the hospitality industry. 

Twenty four state senators, a majority in that chamber, signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. However, the bill was stalled in the Judiciary Committee for over a year and, when it did finally get to the floor for debate, a powerful Democratic senator was successful in tabling the amendment. As a result, business owners throughout the state continue to be hampered by ever increasing liability insurance rates threatening the survival of their businesses.


The issue of Rankin’s potential removal goes deeper for Horry County residents. Long identified as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), Rankin has never been popular or in tune with the majority of the Republican caucus in the Senate. For example, he was the only Republican senator to vote against the Constitutional Carry bill during the last session.


Relationships are key to getting legislation passed in any democratic assembly. Without those relationships, it is nearly impossible to get legislation passed helping your district and its constituents. For decades, Horry County has needed help from the state government for road and infrastructure improvements. Areas such as Charleston, Columbia and Greenville have successfully obtained help in road improvement funding from Columbia. Horry County has not.


Maybe a major reason in the county’s inability to get needed help from Columbia is that its eight term incumbent senator has failed to develop those relationships. Rankin was effectively reelected to a ninth term in the recent Republican primary. He has no opposition in November. However, the effort by his fellow senators to remove him from a committee chairmanship demonstrates he has no effective relationships in Columbia to help him move legislation important to Horry County.

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