Lexington County business owner RJ May is the new SC House District 88 representative.

He filled the seat left afte Mac Toole retired.

May owns The Ivory Tusk Consulting Firm.

After winning a 5-person Republican primary, May ran unopposed in the general election.

District 88 serves nearly 40,000 people around Lexington, Redbank, South Congaree and Pine Ridge.

May has had a lifelong interest in politics and has worked for Mark Sanford and Joe Wilson. He told the Chronicle that he is driven by the question, “How can I give back to my community?”

The 1st-term representative’s priorities include:

• Prioritize conservative values and prioritize protecting life, health and family values and the 2nd Amendment. May supports both the Heartbeat Bill and constitutional carry.

• Reform education and school choice. Fund students, not schools, and allow parents to choose where their children attend school.

• Evaluate the 176 Boards and Commissions the state is paying, and eliminate any duplicate or unnecessary ones.

• Create state-level covid-19 liability protection leg islation for small businesses.

• Eliminate regulated utilities and go to a deregulated model like Texas in which competition breeds success, customer satisfaction and can lower utility costs.

• Protect taxpayer’s money by prohibiting tax money from being spent to bail out big utilities like Santee Cooper and the SCANA nuclear plant disaster.