Three legislators create “Freedom Caucus of South Carolina,” members say caucus with similar name not doing its job

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Three Democratic Legislators are creating a new caucus because they say a similarly named caucus hasn’t done its job.

Representatives Todd Rutherford, Deon Tedder, and Roger Kirby announced they have filed paperwork to create a new caucus named the “Freedom Caucus of South Carolina.”

Rutherford says the goal of the new caucus is to limit government intervention, government expansion, and support the constitution.

“This is about South Carolina. This is about the future of South Carolina. This is about people believing that there’s a group up here that pretends to vote for freedom and encourages freedom, and that’s exactly what they’re not doing,” says Rutherford.

That group, Rutherford says, is the similarly named “South Carolina Freedom Caucus.”

The Democratic Representatives, who hope to gain bipartisan support,  say they should be considered the “real freedom caucus.” They say the word freedom has been pirated by the “South Carolina Freedom Caucus” and that the group votes for things that are unconstitutional.

“Even though it was pointed out to them. They voted for it anyway; they supported it. I don’t know how you support freedom and don’t support the Constitution. I don’t know how you support freedom and vote against things that allow individuals to have more freedom, not less,” says Rutherford.

Representative Adam Morgan, who is a member of the “South Carolina Freedom Caucus” says he doubts the new caucus will be able to gain Republican support.

“I say good luck to that! The question is, what freedoms are they actually fighting for? These are the most liberal members. They oppose freedom and personal liberties at every turn,” says Morgan.

Tedder says he believes the new caucus will gain support from across the aisle.

“And so we create this caucus so that people can actually be a part of a caucus that fights for freedoms for everyone and not just certain people,” Tedder says.

Representative RJ May responded to the creation of the new caucus by saying, “We’re used to the Democratic Party stealing things. They steal our money to grow the size and scope of the government. They steal childhood innocence by pushing a woke liberal agenda and they steal elections. And so it’s no surprise that the Democratic Party would steal the freedom caucus name brand.”

The three members of the new caucus say their next step is to gain members and fight to limit any bill that will expand government growth.

“(We’re here) to talk about how the government — if we’re not careful — will grow and make “1984” look like a child’s book,” says Rutherford.