Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, cautioned his fellow senators Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, on the optics of electing a former legislator to the state’s highest court. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — The head of the South Carolina Senate GOP cautioned his fellow legislators on the optics of electing a former member of the General Assembly to the state’s highest court.
“Y’all, this looks really bad,” Majority Leader Shane Massey said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
In a rare move, the Edgefield Republican directly addressed what he called a “unique” judicial election two weeks before voting is scheduled to take place.
For the first time in more than 20 years, a sitting South Carolina Supreme Court justice faces a challenge for keeping his seat.
“I’m not troubled by that challenge,” Massey said.
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“I know all the candidates,” he added. “I get along with all of them. I think they’re all bright. I think they’re all well-versed in the law. But they’re not all deserving of a seat on the Supreme Court.”
Incumbent Justice John Few is up against three other candidates as he seeks re-election to another 10-year term on the court. They include Administrative Law Court Chief Judge Ralph King “Tripp” Anderson and S.C. Court of Appeals Judge Blake Hewitt.
But the candidate who has drawn the majority leader’s concern is former Republican state House Speaker Jay Lucas, a Hartsville lawyer who spent 24 years in the Legislature but has no judicial experience.
South Carolina is one of only two states in the country where the Legislature holds the power to elect most judges. Virginia is the other.
Those elections in the Palmetto State are tentatively set for March 4.
Members of the state panel charged with screening the judicial candidates previously sought to address the issue when they questioned the former House top brass.
“If your candidacy is successful, it will mean that a sitting justice has not been re-elected, and that you have been elected to the bench without ever having had served as a judge before,” said Rep. Micah Caskey, R-West Columbia, inviting Lucas to respond.
Lucas said he believes his position as a practicing lawyer, along with his Statehouse experience, actually give him an advantage.
“I would not be running if I did not think I was the most qualified person for this position,” he told the panel in November. “I would not be running if I didn’t think our court needed civility, discernment, reason, judgment. Those are things that I bring to the table.”
And if people worried he would bend to the will of legislators, Lucas said his past position actually made him “more inclined to holding the Legislature accountable.”
Lucas did not respond Wednesday to messages from the SC Daily Gazette.
Massey, in his floor speech, called the well-liked Lucas “smart” and “pleasant to be around.”
“This really isn’t about him,” he said. “This is about the rest of us.”
Still, it’s unusual for a legislator to advocate so publicly against a particular candidate.
Massey did not claim there has been any actual wrong-doing ahead of the upcoming elections. Instead his warning was more about public perceptions.
“It looks like backroom deals are being made for someone who is not as qualified for or deserving of the position,” he added. “It looks like the Legislature is cooking the books.”
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Massey claimed politicians, often undeservedly, get a bad rap.
“The public already thinks we don’t play by the rules,” he said. “They think we’re all corrupt. They think we’re going to pursue those things that are better for us or our friends or relatives, even if it’s at their expense.”
“But I think we’re all trying to do what we think is right,” Massey added.
Electing a former legislative leader to the court with no judicial experience, however, would be wrong, Massey said.
“It gives credence to all the suspicions and attacks,” he said. “It makes the unfounded founded and the unwarranted warranted. It soils the institution itself.”
Massey went on to praise the current makeup of the state Supreme Court and highlighted its willingness to go against the General Assembly when the justices find constitutional fault with a law.
That includes a November 2025 decision by the court striking down a pay raise legislators illegally gave themselves last year.
A clause in the state budget called for legislators to receive $18,000 more annually in so-called “in-district compensation,” which is meant to cover expenses outside of the Statehouse. But the state Supreme Court paused those payments before they ever began after a GOP senator sued in protest.
“These are serious people who tackle serious problems,” Massey said. “And while I disagree with some of their decisions occasionally, this court does good work. This court, unlike some courts that we’ve had in the past, does not inject itself into political questions. These are respected people who spent years, their entire professional lives, earning the positions that they now hold.”
“The people of South Carolina have entrusted us with awesome responsibilities,” Massey added. “Let’s not weaken what we’ve inherited. Let’s not contribute to the public suspicions of bad behavior. Let’s not leave this worse than we found it.”
“Please, let’s not screw this up,” he said.
One member, Sen. Richard Cash, R-Powdersville, approached Massey and shook the majority leader’s hand following his remarks.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
