Op Ed
South Carolina is heading into a year that will shape our direction for a long time. Primaries on June 9 and the general election on November 3 will determine leadership across statewide offices: the people who influence voter access, how citizenship is verified, how families navigate school choice, how bodily autonomy is defined, how income‑tax policy hits household budgets, and how agriculture adjusts to a changing economy.
Across the state, the rooms where these conversations are happening tell their own story. When you are in the room, you can see how someone listens, how they handle a tough question, how they treat people whose identities they perceive as different from their own. You can learn a lot from a handshake—and from the choice not to offer one.