Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D-Richland, is surrounded by her family as she is sworn into the South Carolina Senate Tuesday, Jan.9, 2024, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. (Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Even after voters sent a mom to the state Senate in January, South Carolina ranks third-last in having mothers of young children in the Legislature, according to a new report.
In a state with 170 legislators, just four are women with children under the age of 18, according to the September report by Vote Mama Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on eliminating barriers to mothers running for office.
That equals just 2% of the General Assembly. Nationwide, mothers of young children or teenagers make up 7.9% of all state legislators, as of February.
The states with fewer are Tennessee, which has two moms of children under 18, and Alabama, which has zero, the report found.
Although the number of legislating mothers in South Carolina hasn’t changed since 2022, the last time Vote Mama Foundation put out a report, the state fell six rankings because other states saw drastic increases. South Carolina lost one in 2022 and gained one with the state Senate’s newest member, Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, who was sworn in after winning a special election in January. Her children are ages 7, 14, and 19.
Rep. Spencer Wetmore, first elected in 2020, is also among the four mom legislators.
As a mother of two daughters ages 9 and 17, Wetmore said she sees first hand how the Legislature’s decisions affect school-age children and working parents, such as child care costs and mental health problems in schools.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of great people in the Legislature, but it is a unique perspective to have,” said the Folly Beach Democrat.
The high cost of running a campaign might cause mothers of young children to not seek office. Long hours and the need for a second job to supplement the income legislators receive in some states, such as South Carolina legislators’ base salary of $10,400, might also be a barrier, the report found. (South Carolina legislators’ other stipends include $1,000 monthly for “in-district expenses.”)
SC candidates could use campaign donations for childcare under proposal
“With little pay, often no benefits, little flexibility to participate remotely, long commute times, and chaotic schedules; women and young families struggle to remain in office and sustainably represent their communities,” the report reads.
In an effort to help increase the number of mothers running for office, Wetmore introduced a bill last session that would have allowed candidates in South Carolina to use campaign funds for child care costs related to the campaign. It would have extended the state House Ethics Committee’s opinion for candidates of House seats to people running for any public office. And, by turning a nonbinding opinion into state law, it would have given House candidates more legal backing.
The House passed that proposal in a vote of 53 to 45. It never got a hearing in the Senate.
Because of that, Wetmore is considering other options, such as working with the State Election Commission to make sure parents seeking a Statehouse seat know they can use political donations to pay for child care during campaign events, she said.
South Carolina also regularly lags behind other states on the number of women in the Legislature. This year, the Legislature includes 27 women, or about 16%, ranking 47th. The states with a smaller percentage of female legislators are Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
That number is expected to decrease, with only two of the six women serving in the Senate expected to return — Devine, who has a third-party challenger on November’s ballot, and Margie Bright Matthews, a Walterboro Democrat with no challenger. All three GOP “sister senators,” as they call themselves, got ousted in the primary, and one Democrat-turned-independent decided not to run for reelection. More women are running, but all face an uphill battle in races considered safe for the incumbent.
“I certainly hope it doesn’t impact the legislating we do for women and children,” Wetmore said.