South Carolina Republican Party set for changing of the guard

The South Carolina Republican Party will hold its annual Silver Elephant Dinner Friday night May 15 that the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The weekend of festivities will culminate with the State Republican Convention. U.S. Senator from Tennessee and South Carolina native Bob Corker will be the special guest. The GOP gala will be a special occasion for Katon Dawson who is stepping down after seven years as State Republican Party Chair.
“Being the second longest serving Chairman in the Republican Party in the country probably tells you that it’s time to do something different,” says Dawson. “We’ve had a great run here in South Carolina of seven years, won 82 percent of the races where we filed a candidate, raised $19 million and its all been a team effort and a real pleasure.”
Dawson says he is proud that the State Republican Party will be welcoming back a native son as the main speaker for the GOP gala. “We’ve got Senator Corker  from Tennessee coming who was really a staunch opponent to the bailout monies, especially the automobile (industry) bailout monies, especially with the factories in Tennessee up and running. We found him to be an entertaining and intellectual Senator. He’s from Orangeburg, South Carolina and that was the connection of why we wanted to bring him back to his native state and have him as our speaker.”
Dawson says a veritable Who’s Who of South Carolina Republicans will be attending the dinner and the state convention.
“Both U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint will be here, our Congressmen, Governor Sanford, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, (State Attorney General) Henry McMaster, our entire cast of Republicans will be in town on Friday night and on Saturday we’ll have our state convention to elect our new chairman and some new officers.”