Candidates ranging from Richland County Council to the South Carolina General Assembly to local school boards and others each received a $1,000 donation from a leadership PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this year.
Of the 23 South Carolina candidates the PAC gave money to, 20 of 21 running this year won their elections.
The Great American Comeback political action committee, which is the leadership PAC aligned with DeSantis’ presidential campaign, gave $23,000 to South Carolina candidates according to campaign finance reports.
NBC News reported that the PAC also gave a slew of money to Iowa legislators this year. NBC reported 14 of the 42 Iowa state legislators who endorsed DeSantis received donations from the leadership PAC, ranging in individual sums from $2,500 to $15,000
While other campaigns and leadership PACs have done this in the past, the practice is not overwhelmingly common, NBC reported at the time.
All of the 16 General Assembly recipients endorsed DeSantis for president before he dropped out Jan. 21.
DeSantis’ leadership PAC was just a small amount of out of state donations. The $23,000 was part of more than $22 million given by out of state donors to South Carolina candidates from January through October this year.
Although the PAC donated $1,000 to state Rep. Ashley Trantham, a Republican and Freedom Caucus member in District 28, she did not run for reelection. Republican Chris Huff beat Democrat Fritz Wiebel by about 30 percentage points or her seat.
Some of the state house members include Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, Rep. Luke Rankin, R-Laurens, Rep. Travis Moore, R-Spartanburg, Rep. Joe Bustos, R-Charleston, Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, and Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-York.
In January, Moore, Guffey, Kimbrell and Caskey were present along with other lawmakers when DeSantis came to the South Carolina State House to speak on the “Help not Harm” bill, right after he finished second in the Iowa Caucus, just before he dropped his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Kimbrell had campaigned in Iowa for DeSantis and said the Florida governor has had influence on Palmetto State policies, citing the tax cut that was passed in South Carolina in 2022.
“South Carolina is a redder state today because of the work Ron DeSantis did in Florida than the work Nikki Haley did in South Carolina,” Kimbrell said in January. “All of these things are made possible by the work that was done by Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida.”
The PAC also gave seven $1,000 donations to various candidates running for school board trustee positions, sheriffs and county council. The Great American Comeback PAC did not respond to The State before publication to answer questions on why it gave money to these candidates.
Lexington-Richland 5 School Board Trustee Catherine Huddle won her reelection, while the other school board candidate receiving a donation, Greenwood’s David Trent, lost.
Great American Comeback donated to Dorchester County Council candidates, Stuart (Todd) Friddle and Eddie Crosby, who both won, and Richland County Councilman Jason Branham, who isn’t up for re-election until 2026.
The PAC also made $1,000 donations to Charleston sheriff candidate George Ritchie, who won by just more than 2 percentage points. Ritchie defeated Sheriff Kristin Graziano, who S.C. Congresswoman Nancy Mace publicly campaigned against, saying she was a “sanctuary,” sheriff and attacked her for issues related to immigration. Edgefield County Sheriff Jody Rowland was reelected.
According to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance, the total raised by the PAC between 2023-2024 was $3,723,308 and the total spent was $3,676,437. It is based out of Tallahassee, Florida.
Contributions to federal candidates in 2023-2024 by the PAC was $41,400 according to Open Secrets.
