What difference did new GOP supermajority make in S.C. Senate this year?

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Republicans notched a huge win last November in South Carolina, picking up a GOP supermajority in the state Senate for the first time in more than 150 years.

Months later, the first legislative session with that supermajority in place, in addition to the one House Republicans picked up three years ago, has wrapped up.

Leaders in the upper chamber said the new dynamic made somewhat of a difference this year, but it was not necessarily reflected in legislation.

Overall, this session was marked by major legislative priorities earning bipartisan , with the private school voucher bill really the only priority reaching the governor’s desk almost entirely along party lines.

Democrats said their superminority shifted their strategy a bit, including making sure they had represented in committee meetings.

“Sometimes we only had one or two on a committee, so we had a little bit of scheduling just to make sure we had people where we were supposed to be,” Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D–Orangeburg, said.

While the Republican leader said more meant more personalities and styles to manage.

The Senate now has 34 Republicans, compared to the 12 Democrats.

“I don’t know that the supermajority number really has an impact,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R–Edgefield, said. “Being over 31 [Republicans], I don’t know that that makes a big deal. We have a significant majority, and that certainly impacts our ability to do things and move things around.”

But both parties’ leaders emphasized that Columbia isn’t Washington, and they said relations still remained cordial between them this year.

“We didn’t win all the votes, obviously, but we had the ability to have our voices heard and have our concerns raised and to make sure that our citizens, many of whom live out in rural South Carolina, got their voices heard,” Hutto said.

Both leaders also said the bigger change to dynamics this session was the addition of 13 new following last November’s election, the Senate’s largest freshman class in recent history.

“It’s changed the personality of the body, and you see that after every election cycle, frankly,” Massey said.

“This whole session was a learning curve, I believe, for a lot of people,” Hutto added.

These supermajorities also mean Republicans can overcome gubernatorial vetoes in both chambers without needing Democrats’ .

So far this year, Gov. Henry McMaster has vetoed just one bill, but more that ed on the final day of the session have not yet gotten to his desk.

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