Horry County voters will make decisions that shape the next four years when they head to the polls on Tuesday, June 23. The Republican runoff for governor between Pamela Evette and Alan Wilson is one of the key races on the ballot.
Local Issues Take Center Stage
For the booming Grand Strand, no issue feels more immediate than property taxes driven by relentless growth. The Senate has advanced a bill to roughly triple the homestead exemption, shielding more home value for qualifying residents, though it attached multi-year residency requirements aimed at recent arrivals.
Lawmakers have also been steadily cutting the state’s top income tax rate, long among the highest in the country, toward a flatter structure. However, none of this slows reassessment, and when values surge, bills climb even when rates hold.
Public Trust and Police Accountability
Public trust is the civic strain, and nowhere is that clearer than the turmoil inside the Horry County Police Department. State investigators arrested a former officer on bribery charges tied to an alleged ticket-dismissal scheme run through cash apps. A 27-year veteran captain filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging retaliation and politically influenced policing.
The chief has responded by commissioning a roughly year-long outside management review. Crucially, Horry remains the only county-run police department in South Carolina, and a debate over folding it into the Sheriff’s Office could reach voters as a referendum as soon as this fall.
Both gubernatorial candidates hang their hats on preserving South Carolina’s quality of life, and the casino debate tests what that phrase means. The 2026 push to legalize a Santee-area casino along I-95 stalled in the House and never reached a floor vote.
Supporters argued it could raise more than $100 million a year for conservation and veterans’ programs, while Governor McMaster’s office reiterated his firm opposition. Whether the next governor holds that line or reconsiders is one of the few places where Evette and Wilson could plausibly steer the state in different directions.
Original reporting: MyrtleBeachSC News — read the source article.
