S.C. House Republicans voted on Thursday to rename three state roads in honor of President Donald Trump and slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk over the objections of many of the chamber’s longest-serving Democrats.
If passed by the S.C. Senate, the resolutions would rename a McCormick County bridge on Highway 378 the “Charlie Kirk Memorial Bridge,” a section of Highway 76 in Laurens County the “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway,” and the proposed Interstate 73 that might one day run through Horry and several other S.C. counties “The Donald J. Trump Highway.”
Laurens County Republican Rep. Luke Rankin, who sponsored the Highway 76 renaming, called Kirk a “unifier.”
“His passing affected me deeply and profoundly and will have a lasting impact on the rest of my political career,” Rankin said of the Turning Point USA founder who was gunned down last September. “People need to know that Charlie Kirk was a champion of the pro-life cause, was a strong and devout Christian [who] advocated for family values.”
The resolution honoring Trump, sponsored by Horry Republican Rep. Heather Crawford, spoke of the president’s “renowned business savvy and financial acumen,” as well as his support for the I-73 project.
But several of the chamber’s Democrats objected to the renamings in stinging terms, noting Trump’s 34 felony convictions and Kirk’s history of making divisive political and racial remarks.
“I am so amazed at this rush to honor people who have no honor,” Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, the body’s longest-serving member, told her colleagues.
She added, “I don’t care what you think, because you’ve shown you don’t care what we think. I can’t sit here and listen and watch. I can’t do that today.”
The resolution will now go to the S.C. Senate for further consideration.
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