- BIG STORY: Suicide remains South Carolina’s quiet killer
- MORE NEWS: Hundreds quarantined in Upstate measles outbreak
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Not the ‘A’ list
- BRACK: Graham in trouble? Maybe, maybe not
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Through a fence
- FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
Suicide remains South Carolina’s quiet killer
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol bureau | Despite years of concerted prevention efforts, suicide remains South Carolina’s quiet killer, claiming about twice as many lives annually as more headline-grabbing causes of death, such as homicide and alcohol-related car crashes.
The numbers, experts say, are stark.
Every year, more than 800 South Carolinians take their own lives, making suicide the 12th leading cause of death in the state — and the third leading cause for teenagers and young adults. And at a rate of 14.68 people per 100,000, S.C.’s suicide rate is notably higher than the national average of 14.12.
In interviews this week, experts and advocates told Statehouse Report that S.C.’s suicide rate is driven by a complex set of demographic, cultural and legal challenges, including a large rural population, stubborn social stigmas surrounding mental health, and the widespread availability — and lethality — of guns.
What’s more, some advocates argue, recent policy changes at the federal level have further complicated efforts to reduce suicide nationally and in the Palmetto State.
In particular, they say, the Trump administration’s decision in July to end specialized counseling options for LGBTQ+ youth when they call the 988 national suicide prevention hotline was a step in the wrong direction.
“Specialized support services are deeply important,” said Cristina Picozzi, executive director of Columbia’s Harriet Hancock Center, noting that LGBTQ+ youth face higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual peers. “These services ensure that people [who are considering suicide] have a connection to individuals with the necessary training and knowledge.”
In response, Picozzi said, LGBTQ+-focused nonprofits across the state are working to close the gap through peer support services and referrals to specialized mental health providers.
“We’re doing what we can to pick up the slack,” she said.
State prevention efforts
Jessica Kobernik is the program manager for the Suicide Prevention Program in the S.C. Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
In a Dec. 11 interview, she said her “small but pretty mighty” office is currently focused on four major prevention priorities, using a combination of state funding and federal grants.
- S.C.’s 988 Lifeline: With call centers in Greenville and Charleston, the state’s 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers 24/7 counseling and mental health referrals. The 988 number is promoted widely throughout S.C., and is printed on the back of all school IDs from 7th grade through college. LGBTQ+ individuals are eligible to use this lifeline, but won’t receive specialized services.
- Citizen training: Sometimes called “suicide first aid,” this initiative has trained more than 4,000 S.C. residents to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to intervene when necessary.
- Youth-focused prevention: A statewide effort to embed suicide prevention outreach and educational materials into schools and local communities.
- The Zero Suicide Framework: Aimed at adults 18 and over, this program works directly with large-scale organizations like the Medical University of South Carolina and the S.C. Department of Corrections to implement proven prevention practices throughout the state.
Other resources, Kobernik added, such as suicide screening, are available on the office’s website at osp.scdmh.org.
But in addition to state programs, she emphasized the importance of interventions by friends and loved ones.
“It’s OK to check in on anybody you might be worried about,” she said. “Let them know there’s hope out there, and the 988 Lifeline is there for them 24/7.”
That’s a point that Roper St. Francis psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Coker echoed on Dec. 11, saying it’s important to understand that “you’re not going to put the idea in anyone’s head.”
“Asking the hard question doesn’t make someone suicidal,” Coker said. “But it might just help them open up if it’s in a nonjudgmental way.”
Solving the biggest problem – guns
According to researchers, guns are the primary determining factor in whether any suicide attempt is completed.
In fact, statistics show that 90% of suicide attempts involving a gun result in death — as opposed to 5% to 10% using other means.
In South Carolina, guns are used in two-thirds of completed suicides — compared to about 55% around the country.
To address that problem, 22 states, including Florida and Indiana, have implemented extreme risk protection orders, or “red flag” laws, which allow police and prosecutors to temporarily remove a troubled person’s guns through a court proceeding where their rights are protected.
And according to a 2024 study by Duke University professor Jeffery Swanson, those laws are having a major impact, preventing one out of every 13 gun suicides in states where they’ve been passed.
“A red flag law is a unique legal tool that works for our country because it’s not gun control,” Swanson said in a Dec. 11 interview. “It just gives police officers clear legal authority with a court order to remove firearms temporarily from someone who poses an imminent risk to themselves or others.”
He added, “It’s not permanent and it’s not criminalizing. It’s just a civil restraining order, like a domestic violence order of protection.”
A push for a red flag law in S.C.
S.C. Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland — a pastor who’s had to officiate at funerals for gun-suicide victims — says that kind of careful, rights-based approach makes sense in S.C.
That’s why, he said, he’s been introducing red flag legislation since 2022 — and why he plans to push hard for his current bill in 2026.
“I intend to aggressively pursue this legislation next session,” he said. “Red flag laws aren’t partisan and they aren’t just for blue states. This is just something we ought to do.”
The question, he said, is whether his GOP colleagues will give the bill a hearing, where people like Swanson could testify about their research. And to get there, he said, he’s prepared to compromise.
“I’m open to any changes that improve the bill,” Jackson said. “I just want to get to the point where we can have a real discussion and debate.”
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Hundreds quarantined in Upstate measles outbreak
Staff reports | At least 254 people were in quarantine for measles as of Tuesday, with 16 of them in isolation, according to state public health officials. They say they worry the Upstate outbreak is accelerating.
Of the 111 measles cases recorded in the Upstate, 105 have involved unvaccinated people, they said. The outbreak, centered in Spartanburg County, has 27 new infections, officials said. Many of the new cases were associated with an Inman church.
A Clemson public health professor said it was pretty clear an outbreak was coming with the area’s vaccination rate falling below 90%.
“It’s just basic biology,” Kathleen Cartmell told The Post and Courier. “Measles is one of the most contagious diseases that exist.”
State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said at a Wednesday press conference that the state was at risk of losing the designation of eliminating measles — which was declared nationally in 2000 – because of its ongoing transmission.
“And so now that we are … at the brink of seeing continued transmission in the United States for almost a year now, we’ve run the risk of losing that designation as a country,” she said in published reports. “What we’d like people to see is that picture: to consider the effectiveness of the vaccine and having this disease essentially go away.”
In other recent news
2026: Mace says Wilson set up ‘political hit job.’ He calls her ‘spoiled brat.’ The latest spat between U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson played out on CNN with one 2026 gubernatorial hopeful being described as a brat and the other being accused of orchestrating a political hit job.
- Charleston airport concludes investigation in Mace incident
- Gag order imposed on Mace, others connected in lawsuits
- McLeod says he was rehearsing campaign speech before May tirade
- McMaster poll shows Republicans wary of rapid growth
- Lucas candidacy for high court pops up as issue in AG race
USDA approves SNAP food-choice waiver for S.C. South Carolina is among six states where certain unhealthy foods and drinks will no longer be available for purchase using food stamps.
New Riley memoir to be released in January. A landmark memoir by Joseph P. Riley Jr., Charleston’s longest-serving mayor and one of the most respected public servants in the country, will be released next month, Evening Post Books announced Friday morning.
S.C. teachers outline priorities ahead of 2026 legislative season. After what some teachers describe as a productive, and even historic, 2025 legislative session for education, they want to build off that momentum when lawmakers return to Columbia in January.
S.C. minority business leaders say paperwork ‘quotas’ in state law never met their goal. Gov. Henry McMaster ordered an end to decades-old contracting rules in state law aimed at helping minority businesses. Business owners say the law was ineffectual from the beginning.
S.C. absentee voting law makes it difficult for those with disabilities, lawsuit claims. Three nursing home residents sued alongside the state NAACP contending the South Carolina law meant to prevent election fraud violates the federal Voting Rights Act.
Drone delivering food, drugs to inmates intercepted in Lee County. The South Carolina Department of Corrections said Monday that officials recently intercepted a drone delivering several items, including marijuana, crab legs and Old Bay seasoning, to the Lee Correctional Institution in Lee County.
SCDOT looks to relieve traffic on Interstate 85. The S.C. Department of Transportation will research a 35-mile stretch of Interstate 85, running through Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg counties, to set the stage for “significant transportation infrastructure improvements” in the area.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Not the ‘A’ list
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, he offers a sentiment about the crop of 2026 gubernatorial candidates that’s being talked about across the state.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Graham in trouble? Maybe, maybe not
By Andy Brack | It feels like GOP U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is skating pretty close to the sun when it comes to his 2026 reelection effort.
Not only is there a lot of grumbling among the ruby-red Republican base of South Carolina voters that he’s not conservative enough or he’s too “establishment,” but lots of folks are irritated with how he’s backed a measure to let senators sue the Justice Department for hundreds of thousands of dollars over undisclosed phone record searches.
Of course, Democrats are irritated with Graham for just existing and being a sycophant of President Donald Trump.
So when you look at the results of a new Winthrop Poll that shows Graham with a 38% job approval just 11 months before the 2026 election, you might think he was in trouble.
Paul Gans, perhaps the most high-profile candidate Graham is expected to face in next year’s GOP primary, signaled just that weakness, noting the approval rating was “confirmation of what most South Carolinians already know: he is by far the most unpopular statewide elected official in our state.”
Gans, a recent South Carolina resident who is best known for his work on the controversial Project 2025 effort to tear apart the federal government, also told us this: “When left and right today are constantly being divided, we’ve found one thing we can all get behind: It’s time for Lindsey to go (even if our reasons aren’t exactly the same).”
The problem, however, with looking at that 38% number is another number in the poll – the number that shows 67% of registered Republicans said they approved of how Graham was handling his job.
If you translate that into political reality, it means a third of South Carolina Republicans are irritated with Graham, but still like him enough to approve of his job performance and will likely vote for him in the GOP primary next year – even if they hold their nose. A big reason – his close friendship with Trump.
Winthrop Poll’s Scott Huffmon said that while Graham’s support among Republicans wasn’t as high as that of Trump (87%), U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (84%) or Gov. Henry McMaster (82%), “it is still very, very solid. I wouldn’t describe 70-plus% in your party as ‘in trouble.’ He has often been lower than his fellow Republicans, but their ratings among partisans hover around 90% among those offering an opinion. ‘Lower’ approval ratings doesn’t automatically equate to ‘low.’”
Add in other factors, too, Huffmon said: “An endorsement by a president who Republicans in your state love, a massive war chest and a 72% approval rating among Republicans who are registered to vote seems like pretty solid ground.”
So for now, Graham is nervously coasting. But with all of the Epstein mess, a troubled economy and a government in shreds, a lot could happen in the next few months – enough that a Democrat might look a little more attractive to some old-school Republican moderates (and yes, there are some left in South Carolina).
The poll also had some other interesting results:
Redistricting. Two-thirds of South Carolinians believed it was a major problem for the state to redraw congressional districts to favor one party over another. About the same percentage believed it should be illegal to redraw electoral districts to favor particular candidates or to make it harder for others.
Trump. Half of the state’s citizens disapprove of how Trump is handling jobs and the economy; 46% approve. Only 26% approve of how he is handling inflation and prices. Half approve of how he is dealing with immigration. His overall approval rating among registered S.C. voters was 46%, several points higher than national numbers.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Through a fence
This one might be too easy. Here’s a photo shot through a fence. What does it show? Where was the photo taken? Send your best guess – plus hometown and name – to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Meanwhile, last week’s mystery – “Pastoral scene” – showed the old Calliham’s Mill and power house east of Parksville in McCormick County. It was a picture from the Library of Congress.
Columbia resident Jay Altman said the mill, also known as Price’s Mill, was built in the 1890s. When it was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, it was one of the few remaining water-powered gristmills in South Carolina.
Others who correctly identified the mystery were: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Frank Bouknight of Summerville.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
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- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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