Sen. Sean Bennett speaks to someone after making a speech at the Richland County GOP meeting on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by Shaun Chornobroff/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Potential gubernatorial candidate Sean Bennett, a Republican senator from Summerville, painted a picture to GOP voters of a governor that takes a realistic and collaborative approach to governing.
The 57-year-old financial planner is not officially running for governor — yet. But he told dozens attending a Richland County GOP meeting Monday night that he’s considering it.
“I hope the candidate that the people will rally around is going to be the candidate that is ultimately going to be talking about the serious issues, and not just the headline-grabbing issues,” said Bennett, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2012.
After the meeting, he told reporters he doesn’t have a timeline for his decision but intends to make one soon.
There are no official candidates in the 2026 gubernatorial race. The only Republican who announced a bid — former state Treasurer and reality TV star Thomas Ravenel — jumped back out four days later.
However, the field keeps growing for the GOP primary more than 15 months away.
Bennett is the second Republican this year to appear before the GOP faithful in South Carolina’s capital city while exploring a bid.
In her Jan. 28 stop, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, the 1st District congresswoman since 2020, took jabs at her most likely GOP opponents in the race, even while saying she hadn’t made a decision. The expected candidates Mace continues to hammer on social media and the U.S. House floor are Attorney General Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pam Evette.
Another state GOP senator who’s posted on social media that he’s considering a bid is Josh Kimbrell of Spartanburg County. He is slated to speak at next month’s Richland County GOP meeting.
Bennett said family and business considerations will be the biggest factors in whether he officially enters the race. Bennet, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, was re-elected without opposition last year to a district that’s mostly in Dorchester County, with a chunk of Charleston County.
He is also the president and CEO of Asset Integration Consultants, a wealth management firm.
“To a certain degree, if you’re going to do something like this, you have to walk away from that part of your life,” Bennett said. “That’s something that I have to decide whether or not I want to do.”
Tax plan
Bennett, a policy wonk when it comes to state finances, has long advocated for sweeping changes in the state’s tax code — but not the kind that’s become a campaign mantra.
During his speech Monday, Bennett acknowledged that South Carolina continues to have the highest marginal tax rate in the Southeast. Some Republicans point to that as a reason to eliminate the state income tax, including Ravenel in his brief bid.
Bennett said that’s not practical. After asking the crowd if they’d like to have no income taxes — a question that prompted the entire audience to raise their hand — Bennett explained the consequences of that move.
Last fiscal year, income tax collections totaled $6.1 billion, accounting for nearly 45% of the state’s general fund revenues, according to the state Board of Economic Advisors.
Eliminating that revenue will only result in higher sales and property taxes, Bennett said.
“I don’t want to pay any taxes as much as anybody else in this room,” he said. “But we’re going to have to have some sort of revenue coming into the state to generate the services … that government should be responsible for.”
He noted that in South Carolina, 44% of tax filers pay no state income taxes.
That’s because in previous rounds of tax cuts, the Legislature eliminated the bottom tax brackets. Among South Carolinians who do pay, their effective average tax rate — what they pay after deductions and exemptions — is actually lower than most states with an income tax.
Bennett outlined a plan Monday to instead lower tax rates overall by broadening the tax base.
It’s a message he’s advocated for years. But this time, he could take his ideas on the road as he tries to use the real power of the governor’s office: The bully pulpit.
Partnering with the legislature
Bennett recognized that the Legislature is far more powerful than the governor in South Carolina. To get anything done, a governor needs to work with legislative leaders in the House and Senate, not against, he said.
A governor “that is going to fight with the General Assembly, as opposed to partnering, is going to lose that battle every day,” Bennett said. “But the ones that are going to partner and figure out where they can work together for the benefit of others — that’s how it works in any organization — can pull together.”
Bennett said he wants to be viewed as a candidate who’s focused on important problems, not just saying things that get television airtime. When asked, he said he wasn’t referring to anyone specific.
“I think the public wants to hear a serious candidate talking about serious issues,” Bennett said. “We’ve just been living through it seems like a decade or more of just performative politics.”
SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.