Donald Trump headlines South Carolina GOP gala
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – Former President Donald Trump is slated to speak at the South Carolina Republican Party’s annual Silver Elephant Gala this weekend.
The event held in Columbia brings together some of the state’s top Republicans for a night of fundraising.
Saturday’s Silver Elephant Gala is the state’s longest-running GOP event. It began in 1967 with future president Ronald Regan serving as the inaugural speaker. Since then, the gala has welcomed presidents, senators, governors, and other political leaders within the Republican party.
The former president remains the GOP’s frontrunner in the race for the White House. Trump carried South Carolina in the two previous presidential elections, defeating President Joe Biden by seven percentage points in the 2020 election.
A May 2023 poll conducted by National Public Affairs found that Trump leads by 38% among likely South Carolina voters, which is 15 points ahead of the next closest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. South Carolina’s own former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott polled at 15% and 10%, respectively in that poll.
Trump delivered a speech in South Carolina last month while headlining an Independence Day rally in Pickens County, where nearly 75% of voters choose Trump to lead the nation during the 2020 election, according to the South Carolina Election Commission.
Donald Trump’s trip to the Palmetto State this weekend will come on the heels of his third indictment. The former president entered Thursday a “not guilty” plea to four felony counts on charges he conspired to defraud the government and sought to overturn an election he had lost.
Trump’s next hearing is set for August 28th, just days after the first GOP presidential primary debate, which he said in the past he does not plan to attend.
