First, I want to say I fully understand the pain and frustration many feel with high gas prices, groceries that seem like they are in an upward spiral, and the frustrations of war. I also understand that some may be frustrated with the President and his approach to war and over-involvement with state politics. On the gubernatorial campaign trail, many of you also expressed frustration at how divided a society we have become. Everything seems different from even a couple of decades ago. However, beware of the alternative. Before you vote Democrat because they look or sound better, or before you listen to the idiotic write-in campaigns that only dilute us Republicans, take a minute and study the data below. In God we trust; everyone else bring data, a wise man said. ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS: The border is now finally closed. Beware of the alternative. For the first 2 years of Biden, average illegal border encounters in the Southwest were 1.8 million per year. For fiscal year 2026, the same SW illegal border encounters were 98k! Nationwide illegal border encounters are now the lowest in history since data tracking started. INFLATION: It is hard to step back and look at the data when gas and diesel prices appear out of control, but here it is: Cumulative consumer price increase (CPI) for the first 2 years of Biden was 14 percent inflation (average of 8 percent in 2022 alone). Cumulative CPI under Trump is 5.4 percent inflation (average in the low 3's so far this year). VIOLENT CRIME: The FBI statistic on violent crime per 100k population was 389 in 2022, with a murder rate of 6.5 per 100k population. The same statistic in 2025 was 327, with a murder rate of 4.1. The 327 represented the largest year-over-year drop from 2024 since data tracking was started in the 1930s. The 4.1 murder rate tied for the lowest rate since the 1950s. FEDERAL REGULATIONS: There was a massive increase in federal regulations under Biden. The Federal Register page count set an all-time record of 106k in 2024. The same Federal Register page count was at 61k in 2025, which is the lowest in decades. The final rule count in 2025 of 2,441 was the lowest since records were kept in the 1970s. TAXES: There was a constant drumbeat of higher taxes under Biden. Taxes were increased on certain large corporations in the first 2 years, along with threats to increase taxes on the "rich" (usually means middle class), introduce wealth taxes, and introduce taxes on capital gains not realized. That means if your stock price went up, you could be taxed on the gain even if you did not sell the stock. They also were not planning on extending the 2017 tax cuts, which means a de facto tax increase. Trump extended the 2017 tax cuts in full, eliminated taxes on tips and overtime, and reduced taxes on seniors. Finally, don't forget that we eliminated identity politics in the federal government. Instead of dividing us into subgroups by creating quotas for women, blacks, trans, gay, they, them, and us, we went back to trying to pick the most competent people for the job. Do we always get that right? No. But it is better than picking people because they belong to a certain subgroup. Defeats the purpose of us all being Americans and one nation under God. So, when I vote, I will try to not listen to the endless ads and name-calling and appealing to the underbelly of humanity and instead vote for the results I want—a sovereign nation, low crime, low regulations, low taxes, and one America. God bless.

WHY THE USA TURNS BLUER THIS NOVEMBER The 2026 midterms are on us. All signs point to the Republicans losing ground in both the US House and Senate, but also in some closely contested gubernatorial races. Current predictions look like the Democrats will win a majority in the US House with between 225 to 230 seats. Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker. Ugh! The bigger concern is the US Senate. The Republicans currently hold a 53-47 edge. There are 35 out of the 100 seats in the Senate up for election in November. Unfortunately, the Republicans defend 22 out of these 35 seats. The Democrats need to defend their 13 and pick up 4 from the Republicans to gain a majority. It looked unlikely as little as 2 months ago, but things have changed. Solid Republican seats in Texas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa are now in play. The Democrats looked vulnerable in Georgia and Michigan, but Georgia now looks like it will stay in the Democrat column. In Texas, after President Trump endorsed the very weak Ken Paxton, the Democrat Talarico has tied the race, which is unbelievable in ruby-red Texas; Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican, is struggling to hold her ground in Maine; the popular Democratic 2-term Governor Roy Cooper in North Carolina has taken a lead over the Trump-endorsed Michael Whatley; Jon Husted, who was appointed in 2025 to replace JD Vance in Ohio, is in a battle against former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown; and in Iowa, Representative Ashley Hinson, the Republican, appears to be tied up with Representative Josh Turek, a Paralympic Gold medalist. More significantly, the Republicans in these races appear to be losing momentum. A Senate loss in addition to a House loss will be an unmitigated disaster, especially given the extreme left tilt the Democrats have taken. In today's system, Bill Clinton and John Kennedy will have to run as Republicans! The question is how did we get here so quickly after across-the-board wins in 2024? Many of the reasons can be narrowed to two self-inflicted wounds and terrible messaging. The self-inflicted wounds started with the 2024 Trump promise to rein in inflation and make everyday life affordable. This agenda got sidetracked by tariffs and the Iran war. There is a role for targeted tariffs to protect certain industries and, in some cases, to level the playing field. However, across-the-board tariffs at extraordinary levels cannot be absorbed by the supply chain and shows up in higher prices for food, clothing, cars, building products—basically everything that impacts the everyday person. The only way to implement significant across-the-board tariffs would be to marry them with significant across-the-board tax cuts. Then came the Iran war. Clearly, no one anticipated that 8 months later we would still be trading insults with the Iranians. Petroleum products, especially diesel prices, have skyrocketed, adding pricing pressure to freight for everyday products, gas for cars, prices for plastics, and other downstream petroleum products. Uncontrolled Federal spending plus these inflationary impacts have spooked the bond market, causing interest rates for mortgages and consumer loans to reach highs not seen recently. President Trump has not helped with the messaging. By far, his biggest achievements have been shutting a porous border and passing the big, beautiful tax bill that eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and extended prior tax cuts. You cannot have a sovereign nation without a strong border, and the President exceeded expectations with his quick actions on this front. Inflation management and staying out of wars, which were his other promises, have not happened. He is also not reading the room on how citizens feel about data centers in their backyards and how states are increasingly starting to resent what they view as federal interference in picking their state representation. Instead of focusing on specific successes, the messaging from Washington appears to be headlining issues that are not front and center for most everyday citizens—ballrooms, arches, Kennedy Center naming rights, banning news stations for perceived unfair coverage, etc.—which sucks the oxygen out of successes like borders and taxes. Most voters, Republican and Democrat, are concerned about the crazy cost of food, gas, mortgages, uncontrolled government spending, data centers being forced into neighborhoods and farmland, and wars without a clear exit strategy. They want to know how the next 2 years are going to be better on these fronts. A slow disconnect between what voters are focused on and what our Government is focused on is how we got to a place where the Democrats have a shot at taking over the Legislative branch. Perhaps, it is time to stop and go back to our Declaration of Independence to seek guidance. The Declaration is clear in articulating that our rights come from God. Government's job is to secure and protect those rights by ensuring that they (Government) have the consent of us (the governed). When we lose that connection, we lose our system of government. "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS—THAT TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN DERIVING THEIR POWER FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED."

Before you all start sending me hate mail, let me say that I am all for giving S.C. taxpayers relief from these soaring prices, but not through a gas tax suspension. I must disagree with AG Wilson and others who are calling for a gas tax suspension, and I must further disagree with giving the Governor unilateral authority on gas or any other tax, as it violates the constitutional separation of powers. As a businessman and ExxonMobil alumnus who believes the state should be run like a business, there are better alternatives for helping the citizen responsibly. In the last fiscal year, the gas tax brought in roughly 1 billion dollars for the year, that is mostly allocated for infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges in the state. About one third of this billion dollars is paid by out-of-state individuals (and truckers), per the S.C. Department of Revenue. So a 120-day suspension will result in a 300 million dollar revenue loss for the state: about 100 million of this will go to out-of-state entities and 200 million to S.C. taxpayers. Makes no sense. Second, this tax suspension does not go directly to the taxpayer but must go through the retailer or gas station owner. The retailer or gas station owner no longer has to remit the 28-cent gas tax to the state. There is no requirement, however, for the retailer to pass the full amount of the reduction to the customer. In an environment of rapidly rising prices, the retailer can simply claim that the gas tax decrease was offset by higher gas prices. Last night, for example, gas price futures rose by 12 cents in one night. Only a portion of the gas tax savings will likely get passed on to the consumer, and the state has no way to monitor this. Last but not least, how does the suspension end? On the 120th day, you can rest assured the retailer will raise prices by 28 cents even if he did not go down by 28 cents. What if gas prices are still high? Will we have the political will to reinstate the gas tax, or will we continue to cut off funding for the roads? In other words, we have the very real danger of tying the future of our roads to the future of the Straits of Hormuz or whatever geopolitical event that keeps oil high. Our politicians say: don't worry about road funding, we will take it out of the surplus. Well, here's an idea. Why don't you just rebate the surplus to the taxpayer right now? That way you are not giving a big break to out-of-state drivers, and you are not risking the retailer not passing the lower taxes to the consumer fully. The taxpayer will see the full $300 million benefit immediately, and the rebate all stays in state. Most of our politicians have never run anything and are addicted to OPM (other people's money). The gas tax suspension is a half-baked idea that will subsidize out-of-state drivers heavily, pad retailer profits, not fully help S.C. citizens, and not have a good exit strategy. Long term, it risks damaging our already disastrous roads. Stop the madness and rebate the surpluses directly if you are serious about helping. Rom Reddy

S.C. government in action. The only issue with the Governor’s comment is the agency is a cabinet level position reporting to him! Perhaps he should fire the 30 plus year career bureaucrat appointed by him that runs the agency. thestate.com/news/local/envi…

Since the gubernatorial race, I have stayed away from political endorsements for a simple reason—I believe one politician telling the citizen how to vote for another politician is an assault on self-governance. Even though I came out of the election cycle with a very poor opinion of Ralph Norman due to his lies, personal attacks, and distortion of his record, I kept my opinions to myself. However, Ralph, in an interview a couple of days ago, continued the same false narratives against me even though this was a contest in the rear-view mirror. Not very smart, Ralph. It forces me to respond and clarify that the voters rejected you not because of me or the establishment not wanting you (BTW, you are the establishment), but because of your record and abysmal lack of results after being in office for 20 years and running for various offices for a few additional years. You continue to claim I was a "plant" by the establishment that kept you from becoming Governor. During the debate, you further implied that the establishment was Alan Wilson. I must be really stupid to be a plant with my own money. Don't you think that if someone planted me, they would fund me in some way? Also, after you said you were not a career politician and would take out the establishment, did you not turn around and endorse Alan? While my vote count was only a couple of points behind you, I did not endorse any of my "planters," did I? In case you have not figured it out, here is a more realistic view of why the people rejected you: You claim you are "Mr. Conservative." Yet in your 2 decades (including 1 decade in the US Congress), there is not one single conservative bill that you sponsored or even co-sponsored. The only 2 bills you were associated with were a Medal of Honor bill and a co-sponsor for renaming a post office in Hilton Head. Instead, you spent most of your time on ideological opposition to bills so you could run up your conservative voting score with outside organizations like Heritage Foundation and NCU. At the beginning of your tenure in the US Congress in 2017, the federal debt was $20 trillion; federal spending was $3.98 trillion annually, and interest on the debt was $260 billion annually. Fast forward to the end of your tenure in 2026, and the federal debt is $39 trillion (double), federal spending is $7.4 trillion annually (almost double), and interest on the debt is $1 trillion (quadruple due to financing more of the debt and higher rates). That is a record you partially own. Far from a conservative record. Organizations like Heritage and NCU issuing statistical voting data should not define your record. Instead, your record should be defined by results for people of this state, especially conservative results like smaller government, less taxes, less regulations, and bureaucracy. In the 2024 Presidential election, not only did you endorse Nikki Haley over President Trump, but you were also the only member of Congress to do so. At the time, you said that the party needed "new vision" and "new leadership" at the top. In the Post and Courier opinion piece, you further said that Trump was the "outsider" who had become the "insider." When Haley referred to Trump as "unhinged" and "Commander in chaos," you continued to stand meekly with her instead of denouncing her. Today, you claim you are a big Trump supporter. Finally, you were badly complicit in the decision to locate a solar panel plant using hazardous chemicals a few hundred yards from a school in Fort Mill. You co-chaired the Federal solar caucus with a far-left loony Democrat and yet claimed you were not involved in the Silfab solar decision in your district. You took campaign donations from the Silfab lobbyists; you openly solicited local authorities to give them a property tax break, and you included a massive tax break for Silfab in the big, beautiful bill. When residents had a town hall to complain and express concern for their kids, you blew them off. Shortly thereafter, when there were 2 back-to-back hazardous leaks, you distanced yourself from Silfab entirely. That is not leading with courage. We all make mistakes. Owning a mistake is what separates a leader. Good luck, Ralph, as you seek yet another office. Perhaps if you came clean to us voters and were honest about your record, then we would know that you were sincere about change and wanting to do something for the people of this state. As long as you keep stonewalling and blaming various conspiracy theories for your lack of results, we know to expect more of the same.

Please read this article reposted from Palmetto State Watch. These are issues I raised during the campaign. Instead of responding to the underlying issues with transparent answers, Congressman Norman instead resorted to name calling and said I was a fraud who erased his past! Basis for his claim: apparently, they did a deep dive trying to dig up dirt on me and found I had no social media history. The obvious answer? I never had a social media account of any kind prior to DOGESC (last man standing with a BlackBerry!!). The politically convenient thing? Don’t answer the Silfab issue and make up stuff about your opponent to distract. Sadly, it works more often than not. palmettostatewatchfoundation…

During the recent gubernatorial run, I proposed slashing property taxes by using techniques that force local governments to cut spending, which is the only sustainable way to bring real tax relief. My proposals incorporated what Florida is doing (see linked article) with a few additional modifications for SC to keep taxes from shifting to other categories. In addition to drastically increasing the homestead exemption that begins to eliminate property tax on most residential properties as Florida is doing, I also proposed to eliminate property tax on cars and trucks, cap increases on non-residential property taxes and in order to curb uncontrolled growth, I made future residents of SC who relocated to this state ineligible for the new homestead limits and ineligible for the 4 percent residential tax for 5 years from the date of their move. I was encouraged to see this strategy start to have the intended effect in Florida, which is to wake up local governments and have them not just curb costs but SLASH their bloated spending which in SC had doubled in 10 years. Hopefully, whoever wins in November has the courage to still do this. IT WORKS! wsj.com/us-news/florida-stat…

Even though we did not prevail in the gubernatorial election this time, I cannot tell you how much I love and appreciate all our voters and supporters. I love hearing from all of you and will soon provide a forum for your voices. Almost all of you realize we have a broken system controlled by career politicians who just keep shifting chairs to hang on to power. It is in that spirit I want to say I greatly appreciate the emails, texts, and posts over the last day or so urging me to run for U.S. Senate. Lindsey served this state for almost three decades. Out of respect for Lindsey, I did not respond to many of you promptly, as I usually do. Much of the outreach, by the way, has been from all of you, not the political establishment, who wants one of their own, as they always do! So here goes—I am a CEO. Have been one for most of my four-decade career. I have hired, fired, and trained CEOs. That is my wheelhouse. Being an effective Governor is being an effective CEO who can set a bold vision, get results, and be accountable to his shareholders (you!). That's why I ran for Governor. Being a lawmaker is a different skill set. I don't believe the Governor and lawmaker skill sets are interchangeable if you want to be effective. The only reason to keep going after these positions interchangeably is to keep feeding the desire to stay in power with all the trappings of power. I have never had any interest in this and never will. This is a long way of saying I have no interest in being a Senator or a lawmaker of any kind. I do believe God has a different path for me, and I will let Him lead me to it. Over the last 40 years, He has always put me in situations to deliver transformational changes and truly make a difference in people's lives, and I am confident I will be shown that path again. Stay tuned, and remember all of you are very special people who see that, collectively, we have to fix this corrupt, self-serving system for our children. God bless. Rom Reddy

As many of you who followed my campaign know, Renee and I attend the First Baptist Church in Charleston. Last Sunday at church, I learned something about Richard Furman, who was pastor at First Baptist after the war ended in 1786. It is especially relevant to this 4th of July as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding and deal with a big election year. During the American War of Independence (1775–83), Richard Furman volunteered to serve in the Colonial Army but was persuaded his talents could be better used as a speaker in gaining support for the cause. He must have done a great job with his speaking, as there was a bounty issued for his capture after Charleston fell to the British forces in 1780! Mr. Furman was forced to flee the state, only to return after the war ended in 1786 to become pastor of First Baptist, where he remained until his death. Furman University, the South's first Baptist college, founded in 1826, was famously named after him. As a true patriot, Furman preached a sermon on July 4, 1802. One famous quote among many that day said, "Surely, we may say: the American Revolution was effected by the special agency of God." A reminder of the connection between our founding and divine providence. During this (very long!) sermon, Richard also provided the following challenges/warnings to a new nation looking to elect leaders with a very different political foundation than almost any nation on earth. Those guidelines are just as relevant today as then: * Seek the good of the whole. * Adhere to the Constitution. * Guard against prejudices and partiality. * Endeavor to fully understand matters before speaking out. * Don't be satisfied with just the right form of government; elect only those who will guard against "pernicious evil." * Elect only the virtuous, both publicly and privately. * Beware of politicians with ambition and bad principles. Wow! is all I can say as we look around today and marvel at his incredible foresight. Happy Birthday to this great nation, and may we never forget our founding principles that made us the greatest nation on earth. Rom Reddy

We want the Reddy Room to be a forum to discuss ideas that can eventually be converted to action. So, let's start with something simple. On the campaign trail, I heard a lot about chemtrails and serious concerns, especially in some parts of our state. Chemtrails are a form of geoengineering and intentional weather modification. Many of you talked about the massive streaking you see in our skies. Some of you attributed it to commercial jets. However, my research and the pictures I saw did not correlate with commercial jets. So, what do you all think about a simple piece of legislation that follows what Ron DeSantis just did in Florida? A summary of that legislation is below. Please comment on it as you see fit, and while it is perfectly OK to have all kinds of different opinions, please be respectful. Legislation would: 1. Make it illegal to intentionally inject, release, or disperse chemicals or other substances into the atmosphere for the purpose of altering weather, climate, sunlight intensity, or temperature. Does not apply to ordinary aircraft exhaust, agricultural spraying, or firefighting. 2. General violations are third-degree felonies and can include up to 5 years in prison and fines up to $100,000. 3. Citizens can report violations through an online reporting portal, and the environmental agency must investigate reports that warrant review within a defined timeframe. 4. Airports must submit monthly reports identifying aircraft equipped for geoengineering or weather modification activities. They must maintain records for state inspection. Comments are welcome. This fall, we will start a Reddy Room podcast and will invite experts to speak on this topic, including those in Florida who researched it. Rom Reddy

"We will appeal to the good in people. We will get results." "We are supposed to be servants of the people who elect us and we've gotten away from that, on the 250th anniversary we're going to go back to it."

There are two tiers of candidates in this race. Mace and Norman have no mathematical path to victory. If you want an outsider to fix this state, vote Reddy. South Carolina cannot afford an Evette vs. Wilson insider vs. insider runoff. It's time for something different.

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