Blaze News original: South Carolina Freedom Caucus stands for conservative principles while fighting the 'uniparty'

The South Carolina freedom caucus is a coalition of more than a dozen state representatives fighting to advance conservative principles in the Palmetto State, but while Republicans hold a massive majority in the chamber, the freedom caucus' struggle is not just against Democrats but Republicans as well.

State Rep. Josiah Magnuson (R), who serves as the Freedom Caucus' secretary, told Blaze News that Republicans as well as Democrats (which he collectively calls the "uniparty") both "have it out for the Freedom Caucus."

'Core group of ... absolute RINO establishment hacks ... Democrats that like to dress in ... drag and act like Republicans.'

State Rep. Adam Morgan (R), who chairs the conservative group, indicated to Blaze News that there is a pattern in which the freedom caucus raises an issue, other Republicans suggest it's not an issue, "we put it on the record, they vote against it, they all get hammered," but then the Republican opponents reverse course, and "we all together vote for whatever conservative principle" is at hand because they must face election.

He said that there is a "core group of ... absolute RINO establishment hacks ... Democrats that like to dress in ... drag and act like Republicans."

Morgan also indicated that there are many Republican lawmakers in the middle who sometimes vote with the freedom caucus but sometimes vote with leadership.

The Palmetto Truth Project has been attacking South Carolina Freedom Caucus members and candidates aligned with the freedom caucus, using mailers, mass text messages, and other means, according to Evan Newman of the State Freedom Caucus Network. Newman serves as the state director for the South Carolina Freedom Caucus.

President and owner of Starboard Communications Walter Whetsell, who does work with the South Carolina Republican Caucus, is also working with the Palmetto Truth Project.

Whetsell told Blaze News that the South Carolina "House Republican Caucus is one of many clients of ours that we provide consulting services for. We also work directly for many members of the House Republican Caucus on individual bases." He also noted, "We do provide consulting services to the Palmetto Truth Project as we do for more than two dozen or so clients."

Whetsell stated that "while members of the Freedom Caucus have been extremely misleading with their narrative to voters, they occasionally have slipped and admitted their real goal is to 'burn this place down.'"

He asserted that "the Post and Courier, has highlighted the Freedom Caucus deceptions on a variety of issues ... from allowing convicted felons to carry handguns in the open, to not rewarding law enforcement and school teachers with pay increases, to proposing penalties (up to the death penalty) for women who have abortions. All the while, they voted 'no' to lowering the state's income tax, which would allow hard-working taxpayers keeping more of their money."

When offered the opportunity to respond to some of Whetsell's comments, Magnuson declared to Blaze News, "The SC Freedom Caucus is a real threat to the power of the good ol' boys in the Columbia Swamp, so it makes sense why they would lie about us so desperately."

"Our members have consistently voted in favor of the budget sections in question, such as infrastructure, law enforcement, and teacher pay raises, and in fact have often advocated for greater funding of those areas rather than wasting taxpayer dollars on crazy pork projects. And none of us have ever advocated for the death penalty for abortion. It is the failed political establishment who is intent on spinning a misleading narrative across the state. Their concern is not for the truth but for their gravy train," Magnuson declared.

Whetsell told Blaze News that the amount of money the Palmetto Truth Project is spending "seems to grow by the day with the continued missteps and pearl-clutching of the Freedom Caucus. I provide their group with marketing advice based upon the issue[s] they are concerned about and provide them a variety of marketing options for reaching rational, reasonable, common-sense conservative voters with those messages," he noted.

Morgan, who is currently challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. William Timmons in the Republican primary in South Carolina's 4th Congressional District, said that "we need fewer Lindsey Grahams" holding office and more figures like Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman. Graham is one of the state's two U.S. senators, while Roy currently represents Texas' 21st Congressional District, and Norman represents South Carolina's 5th Congressional District.

"The ruling coalition of liberal Republicans and their Democrat allies have surrendered to the woke Left and the globalist onslaught against American freedom," the South Carolina Freedom Caucus executive team said in a statement provided to Blaze News by Magnuson.

'We are exposing the RINOs and forcing them to address issues that Republican voters actually care about.'

"Under 30 years of RINO leadership, they have allowed our roads to crumble, our law enforcement to be demoralized, and our small businesses across our state to shutter their doors. They have failed to close our primaries, rid our state of DEI and CRT, or reform the backroom judicial selection process. And they continue to push crony capitalism and corporate welfare for the politically connected," the statement declared. "The SC Freedom Caucus represents the first real threat to the failed status quo. That's why you see a coordinated effort between lobbyists, special interests, and liberal leadership relentlessly attacking the only real conservative lawmakers in South Carolina."

"Our unwillingness to cave on our conservative policy positions, our refusal to sign their Soviet-style loyalty pledge to protect the good ol' boys, and our demands for roll call votes, have terrified the political club in Columbia. We are exposing the RINOs and forcing them to address issues that Republican voters actually care about," the statement noted. "The political establishment sees their gravy train evaporating that benefits entrenched legislators, their special interest friends, and woke corporations. By returning the People's House back to the People and creating solutions for conservative reform, the SC Freedom Caucus is moving our state from the most liberal red state in the country toward the beacon of conservatism that South Carolinians expect and deserve."

Blaze Media's Daniel Horowitz recently opined in a post on X, "The most important thing in SC is to reelect and expand the Freedom Caucus."

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