Letter to the editor: Rep. Smith works with all legislators to address needs

As a former member of the South Carolina Senate, I served with Murrell Smith on the Sumter Legislative Delegation for a dozen years.

When I arrived at the Statehouse in 2012, Murrell was already chairing one of the subcommittees of the influential House Ways and Means Committee, where the state's annual budget originates. Not long after that, he became the chairman of the full Ways and Means Committee, where he served for several years before being elected by his colleagues to lead the South Carolina House of Representatives as its speaker.

Perhaps most notably, Murrell has been consistently tapped for leadership at the Statehouse while serving as a member of a local legislative delegation that was dominated by members of the other political party - which included me. Even though our Sumter Delegation members may have campaigned under different political platforms, as elected officials, we committed to setting politics aside in favor of good governance. We committed to the idea of "Team Sumter" and to putting Sumter first, always and without exception. We did not disparage each other; instead, we worked with each other. We communicated constantly with one another and with local leaders and constituents at home to ensure that we were aware of the needs of our community, and we worked together to address those needs. None of us ever cared about whether someone was a Democrat or Republican when they called us for help. As a result, together we accomplished great things for Sumter.

Our collaborative approach was and remains a model that I wish many of our colleagues and our friends in Washington would follow. That cooperative spirit among our elected officials has enabled a community of our size to develop and improve at a pace that I never could have imagined when I moved back to my hometown of Sumter to practice law 23 years ago. And during that time, Murrell has been at the heart of it all.

Make no mistake about it - Sumter has gained immensely from one of our resident legislators being placed in these positions of leadership, which don't come around to communities like ours but every so often. Sumter continues to become a better place to live with more opportunities and improved quality of life for our people thanks in very large part to Murrell's dedicated service. In short, Speaker Murrell Smith has delivered for us, and we have every reason to make sure he returns to Columbia for another term in the House.

Please join me in voting for Murrell Smith to continue working for Sumter as our representative for House District 67.

THOMAS McELVEEN

Retired S.C. senator, District 35 (Sumter, Kershaw, Richland, and Lee counties), 2012-2024