U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman held a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in the Statehouse lobby in Columbia to talk about fixing South Carolina's roads. (Photo by Alexander Thompson/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman returned to the Statehouse on Tuesday to talk roads and bridges as he seeks to pull his gubernatorial campaign into the fast lane.
Norman, who represented Rock Hill in the state House for a decade, made the pitch for his proposal to audit the state Department of Transportation, put the lieutenant governor in charge of the $2.8 billion department, and transfer smaller roads to counties to maintain. All of his ideas would require the Legislature’s approval.
And legislators are busy at work on their own proposals. A House study committee has been meeting since last summer. And a Senate panel is set to start Thursday discussing a DOT modernization plan introduced by the transportation chairman Tuesday.
The 5th District congressman has made roads and bridges a centerpiece of his campaign in hopes an issue that South Carolinians universally complain about will help him stand out from his four GOP competitors.
The proposals Norman touted Tuesday have largely been part of his platform since he launched his campaign six months ago. But the ultra-conservative congressman took the Statehouse stop — his second in two weeks — as an opportunity to bash the powers that be in Columbia and angle for the outsider status that’s much coveted in a GOP primary.
“Sadly, many who serve in these chambers don’t seem to care about what their constituents are telling them. That’s going to change under a Norman administration,” he said, as five state
representatives from the breakaway House Freedom Caucus stood behind him.
Norman, a member of the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House, helped launch the state House affiliate in 2022 that has publicly feuded with the GOP majority.
South Carolina’s roads, which Norman said are in “crisis,” have long been among voters’ chief complaints and a political punchline.
The federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics grades 80% of the state’s roads as being in acceptable condition, putting South Carolina 31st in the nation, while the state vies with other southern states for the highest rate of traffic deaths per vehicle mile, according to the National Safety Council.
Thousands of the state’s bridges are in need of repair, to which incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly called legislators’ attention. The Republican governor’s budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year include putting $1.1 billion toward roadwork to cover inflationary costs that threaten to delay projects, as has happened in other states.
Norman’s central pitch to pothole-weary voters is that he can improve roads faster without raising revenue.
“We’ve got all the money we need, but it’s putting money in the right places. It’s getting government out of the way, and it’s getting accountability back to an area that can’t wait any longer,” Norman told reporters at the Statehouse.
SC governor asks legislators to spend $1.1B more on roadwork as inflation drives up costs
Norman declined to weigh in on McMaster’s $1.1 billion request, saying he’d need to see more details. And he didn’t mention the gas tax that, as a state legislator, he fiercely opposed raising.
To find more cash, Norman hopes to pay for an independent audit of the department, in addition to the internal audits required yearly.
He also believes the lieutenant governor should lead the department, as he contends a political figure would be more accountable to voters than a secretary who answers to an appointed governing board. Voters haven’t separately elected the lieutenant governor since McMaster’s election in 2014. Norman has not yet publicly named a running mate.
Making the lieutenant governor “road czar,” in Norman’s terms, would give the part-time position a defined job and once again rejigger the department’s management — if the Legislature approves the idea. By law, the lieutenant governor is paid $46,500, a salary unchanged since 1994.
Changing the agency’s governing structure has been a popular thing for lawmakers to focus on while insisting roads can be fixed for no additional money.
In 2007, a restructuring law made the DOT a Cabinet agency and gave the governor the power to appoint its director. Advocates for reform complained that legislators had too much influence over which projects got done, since they determined who sat on the agency’s governing board. The law required construction projects to be based on need and made the secretary answer to two bosses: the governor and the legislatively appointed commission. A 2010 outside audit found the law actually increased some inefficiencies.
In 2016, then-Gov. Nikki Haley reluctantly signed a law that, along with letting the state borrow money for road improvements, removed the agency from the Cabinet and returned control to the commission. However, it let the governor pick the commissioners — if legislators approve of them.
It wasn’t until Haley, who had repeatedly promised to veto any increase to gas taxes, left to join the Trump administration that the Legislature managed to agree on a road-funding plan that raised the gas tax by 12 cents over six years, to 28 cents a gallon, where it remains. Legislators knew at the time that the compromise raised far less than the DOT said it needed to bring existing roads to good condition.
While Norman was a Haley ally who consistently voted to uphold her vetoes, he didn’t vote on that law. He resigned from the state House in order to concentrate on his successful bid for Congress two weeks before the first vote on the House floor.
In his budget recommendations, McMaster noted that almost $7 billion worth of roadway projects are underway in South Carolina, compared to $2.7 billion in 2017 when the law passed.
“The department is hitting the marks that we set out to do back in 2017,” Secretary Justin Powell said at a Statehouse hearing in August, adding that the extra revenue has led to a significant
improvement in road quality.
But a decade later, the DOT is also dealing with faster growth than expected and the resulting traffic headaches that drive up complaints.
Norman proposes handing off smaller state roads to county management — an idea that’s been around for decades without much success. He didn’t say whether he’s willing to offer financial aid for the transfers.
South Carolina has the nation’s fourth-largest state-maintained highway system, at more than 41,000 centerline miles. The state is responsible for nearly 70% of public roads, including what’s called farm-to-market roads and many neighborhood streets. Some are essentially glorified driveways.
But historically, local governments have balked at the idea of taking on more roads and the expenses that come with that additional responsibility. The agency is seeking $25 million in the upcoming budget for a road-buyback program that offers local governments money in exchange for taking a road. It’s seeking permission from the Legislature to negotiate those deals.
Norman’s not the only gubernatorial candidate claiming he’ll do a better job fixing roads.
While Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette has touted the state’s progress under the McMaster administration, the other candidates have struck a critical tone similar to Norman’s.
Congresswoman Nancy Mace of Charleston County is also proposing an audit in her platform, while state Attorney General Alan Wilson pointed to cutting “massive” waste at the department in an August interview.
The details of the candidates’ plans remain vague, and Norman didn’t change that on Tuesday.
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