In 2012, South Carolina’s political process was upended when a contradiction between a state ethics law and a state election law led to a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling that removed more than 200 candidates – both Democrat and Republican – from that year’s primary election ballots.
The South Carolina Republican Party spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend its candidates across the state in an effort to get them back on the ballot. As a result, those funds, that would have otherwise gone to campaigning, were largely depleted.
The chairman of the South Carolina Republican party brought in TMPR to advise for the fall election campaign cycle.
With a limited budget, a dedicated regional staff, county party organizations throughout South Carolina, and GOP officials in neighboring and battleground states, TMPR worked with VICTORY 2012 to help implement one of the largest, most successful voter contact campaigns in state history.
VICTORY 2012’s efforts sent volunteers across the nation, generated more than 600,000 voter contacts, added to the party’s majority in the state legislature, and solidified a win for the state’s new 7th Congressional District seat.
Following the general election, Chairman Chad Connelly wrote,
After the primary election turmoil created because of the state’s conflicting election laws, I knew I needed to select someone to oversee the party’s VICTORY campaign for the general election. I needed someone with experience, knowledge, maturity, and dedication. I needed to have someone who knew how to manage staff and volunteers and who could talk with voters, activists, and candidates. I needed someone who could represent the SCGOP statewide. I needed someone who also understood that while we raised more contributions than any other chairman’s administration had ever done in a two year period, constant court battles to protect our candidates and our ideology left us with less than we wanted for the fall campaign.
“That’s why I asked you to take charge of that operation. I knew you were exactly what we needed.”
