Candidates can run for races where they don't live despite a rule against it. Here's why. (2024)

South Carolina Republicans are leaning on a long-running party rule requiring residency in a district to boot a candidate from a hotly contested Upstate congressional primary— a move that goes beyond state requirements when past candidates have managed to get their names onto ballots far from home.

The issue has been raised in the upcoming primary for Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan's seat in District 3, which encompassesa largely rural swath with Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens and Saluda counties along with portions of Greenville and Newberry counties.

The state GOP has refused to certify one candidate— Michael LaPierre, a retired businessman in Travelers Rest who has run for multiple federal-level offices in recent years — because he lives in the neighboring 4th district.

Based on thestate election commission'sinterpretation, there's no residency restriction on running for or holding congressional office besides living in the state. But parties can freely add their own additional requirements for candidates, SEC spokesman TJ Lundeen said.

In the state GOP's rulebook lies a decades-old rule requiring candidates nominated by the party to not only be residents of the state but also the district they are running for.

"No candidate may be nominated by the Republican Party who is not a registered elector in and a bona fide resident of the State of South Carolina and of the particular election district, if less than statewide, inwhich he offers as a candidate for office," reads Rule 11(a)(6) of the South Carolina Republican Party, a rule that party officials said has been on the books since at least 1989.

However, candidates have managed to run outside their district before.

In the contentious 2022 primary for U.S. Rep. William Timmons' 4th District seat, Mark Burns, an outspoken evangelical pastor from Easley and a loyalist of former president Donald Trump, crossed district lines to join two other challengers against the incumbent.

Burns almost pushed the race into a runoff, collecting 24 percent of the vote in the four-person race. LaPierre picked up 17 percent. Timmons, with a Trump endorsem*nt, edged them and another out with 54 percent.

Now two years later, Burns is back— this time to District 3, and unlike the race two years ago, he's running with Trump's endorsem*nt, in part because he's not facing Timmons, who also has the former president's expressed support.

Also two years ago, on the coast, Upstate conservative media personality and Trump ally Graham Allen had announced his intention to run for then-U.S. Rep. Tom Rice's seat in District 7, despite Allen living in Anderson.

While eyebrows were raised with the announcement of Burns' and Allen's bids, Hope Walker Rossi, the state GOP's executive director, told The Post and Courier that Burns at the time had changed his residency ahead of filing to be on the ballot for District 4, and Allen dropped out of the race before he had formally filed.

For certification, Rossi said, candidates' residency is compared with their voter registration as well as other checks, depending on the office.

Candidate filing sheets show that Burns entered the 2022 District 4 race with a Greenville-based P.O. box, but in this year's race he has used his home address.

P.O. boxes cannot be used as an address for voter registration. Permanent residency is required, Lundeen said.

Rossi confirmed that Burns had registered with a District 4 address in 2022 and now has registered with a District 3 address.

In a statement to The Post and Courier, LaPierre has questioned the intent behind the state GOP refusal to support his bid, alleging political motives for the decision.

"The SCGOP should NOT be using rules to 'effectively' use a convention-like process where party bosses certify and/or decertify Congressional Candidates," LaPierre said. "It is the local Counties themselves and We the People who should decide."

Rossi dismissed LaPierre's accusations, saying that the party is not decertifying him because they never chose to certify him in the first place. LaPierre is a resident of District 4 and would have had to change his residency ahead of time, Rossi said.

"If you're running for office, you should know the requirements," she said.

LaPierre criticized the timing of his removal, saying that he was told on April 5 after the filing deadline passed on April 1. Rossi said that the state election commission gave the party the filing paperwork to certify the day the deadline closed.

A day later, Rossi announced her resignation from the SCGOP, effective May 4.

LaPierre sent out a statement April 12 claiming a connection between her resignation and his supposedly improper removal from the ballot.

SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick and Rossi immediately denied the allegations.

"Despite what some inflated egos may believe, everything is not always about them," McKissick told The Post and Courier. "There are other things going on in the world besides their self-centered false narratives."

Rossi said in an interview that her birthday is on May 4, her last day as executive director, which comes only a few days after the party convention on May 1.

"The timing is a gift to myself," Rossi said, adding that the decision was made over a month ago when she found another position.

When asked about LaPierre litigating the rule in question, Rossi and McKissick had no qualms.

"If he wants to waste his time, he's welcome to do so," McKissick said.

Fellow District 3 candidate Kevin Bishop voiced his support for LaPierre in a letter to McKissick on April 15, expressing concern toward any efforts to limit ballot access.

"On matters of principle our personal interests give way to the greater good," said Bishop, who was the communications director for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham until February. "In this case, the greater good is promoting and protecting the democratic process."

It's not LaPierre's first bid for office. In 2020, he attempted a run against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary, and then ran against Timmons in 2022.

Other South Carolina political candidates are facing opposition from their party, too.

Charleston County Sheriff candidate Alan Ali was denied a spot on the Democratic primary ballot because he does not align with the state party's "values," setting up a legal challenge but otherwise clearing the way for the party's incumbent.

In question is whether Ali was trying to flip parties, but also whether he was running for a spot in Charleston County despite historically living next door in Dorchester County.

Under the South Carolina Democratic Party's rules, any Democrat in the state can challenge a candidate's qualifications and bring the issue before a hearing.

Besides the residency requirement, the state Republicans do not have such a rule.