Incumbent South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick easily won reelection on Saturday, defeating a challenge from controversial attorney Lin Wood.
McKissick, who had the backing of former President Donald Trump, won his third two-year term in the position with a final delegate tally of 582 for McKissick, 239 for Wood, and 37 for two other candidates, the South Carolina GOP tweeted Saturday night. The party’s vice chairmen were also all reelected to their positions.
“Thanks to the grassroots activists across the state, the SCGOP is stronger than it’s ever been,” McKissick said following his victory. “We’ve proven we have a winning coalition of conservatives who are committed to beating Democrats, and I’m honored they’ve chosen to reelect me to lead that fight. Now, we can roll up our sleeves to continue what we do best — win elections.”
LIN WOOD AND TRUMP-BACKED SOUTH CAROLINA GOP CHAIRMAN TRADE ‘RINO’ BARBS AHEAD OF MAY ELECTION
Trump also celebrated McKissick’s victory, calling the election “a great win.”
“It was a great win against a strong and talented opponent,” he said in a statement. “The Republican Party of South Carolina is in good hands, and we will continue to go on to victory as we have had in the past two Presidential Elections!”
The race between McKissick and Wood was contentious, with each accusing the other of being a “RINO” (or Republican in name only). Wood faulted the incumbent chairman for not doing “enough to have the election investigated and reversed based on fraud and illegality.”
“That makes him what I think people call a RINO Republican, Republican in Name Only, meaning that he will embrace President Trump, he will get his endorsements, he will take advantage of what Trump does for South Carolina because they had really good numbers in 2020. McKissick tries to take credit for it; the credit belongs to Donald Trump,” Wood told the Washington Examiner during an interview last month at the Health and Freedom Convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
McKissick returned fire, calling Wood a “carpetbagging RINO who’s been in South Carolina for two months” in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“Any suggestion or accusation of cheating or not being a true Republican is just a strategy out of the slick trial lawyer’s handbook — a trial lawyer who donated to Obama twice and supported candidates endorsed by Planned Parenthood,” he added. “Trump endorsed my reelection campaign, and that speaks for itself.”
Trump endorsed McKissick in 2018 and did so again on March 30, just one day after Wood announced his run.
“Drew fought all the way to the Supreme Court to defend our voting laws — and WON,” he said, referring to an election-related case. “He will continue to grow the party and help Conservatives get elected in the Great State of South Carolina.”
Wood, who moved to South Carolina from Georgia in February and announced his bid to run for the South Carolina GOP chairman position on March 29, appeared unfazed by Trump’s endorsement, telling the Washington Examiner the former president is a “genius.”
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Wood spearheaded a series of mostly failed lawsuits arguing the 2020 presidential election was not secure and should be subjected to recounts and audits. He is currently under investigation over whether he illegally voted in Georgia.
The attorney has alluded to running for Senate if his chairmanship race proved unsuccessful, saying, “If somebody knocks on my door … and the time is right, and they say, ‘Hey, Lin, let’s take down Lindsey Graham,’ I will consider doing it.”
