COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Former labor and public health chief Catherine Templeton has officially entered the South Carolina governor’s race, confirming Tuesday that she’ll pursue the Republican nomination next year.
Templeton served in state government for four years but has never pursued elected office. The anti-union lawyer was one of Gov. Nikki Haley’s first Cabinet picks, running the state’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation before a stint as director of the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Templeton had planned to enter the governor’s race earlier but postponed her official decision in January, explained her thinking at the time to the AP after it ran a story on next year’s contest. The story pointed out that Haley’s acceptance of a post as U.N. ambassador elevated then-Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster to the state’s top slot, meaning McMaster will be an incumbent when he runs, as expected, in 2018.
“Right now is the time to send someone with practical experience running a business, making a home, and reforming government to call balls and strikes and do the math in Columbia,” Templeton told AP Tuesday. “We can’t wait another decade to get started.”
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Kinnard can be reached at https://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP . Read more of her work at https://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/
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