ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The SC and NC Federations of Republican Women will welcome presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Asa Hutchinson to the Winthrop University campus on Oct. 19 for a question and answer session.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event in McBryde Hall. Jennifer Stefano, chief strategist for Commonwealth Foundation, will serve as emcee. Blake Burman of NewsNation will introduce the candidates and lead discussion at the event, which will be broadcast on NewsNation at a later time. Robert Cahaly, senior strategist and pollster of the Trafalgar Group, will share his expertise on modern political strategies and polling.
This event, organized by and designed for women, will focus on issues critical to women; education, family policies, reproductive rights and the economy, while reflecting the views of the nation.
North Carolinians will have this rare opportunity to personally hear the candidates early in their primary process, while South Carolinians will have a springboard for their First in the South Feb. 24 primary.
Other invited candidates were Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum.
About the Candidates
A native Floridian with blue-collar roots, DeSantis was raised in Dunedin by his mother, a nurse, and father, who installed cable boxes. He graduated from Yale University, from Harvard Law School and earned a commission in the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer. He deployed to Iraq in support of the SEAL mission in Fallujah, Ramadi and the rest of the Al Anbar province. He was elected to Congress in 2012 and then in 2018 and 2022 as governor of Florida.
Hutchinson, who grew up on a small farm near Gravette, Arkansas, is a graduate of Bob Jones University and the University of Arkansas School of Law. In 1996, he won the first of three consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, then served as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and later as the nation’s first Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Border Protection. He also served two terms as governor of Arkansas.
DeSantis and Hutchinson are the third and fourth presidential candidates to visit Winthrop during the 2024 election cycle.
General admission tickets for the Oct. 19 event are $25 and may be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-presidential-forum-by-women-for-women-tickets-703413016267.
Winthrop University Police Department officers and event signage will direct visitors to campus parking lots behind Margaret Nance and Johnson Halls as well as the Founders Lot on Alumni Drive.
Winthrop is a public institution dedicated to serving the state of South Carolina and to promoting the free exchange of ideas and informed citizenship. Thus, the university welcomes political candidates, elected officials, and guest speakers from all partisan and ideological perspectives to visit campus and to present their ideas to the Winthrop and Rock Hill communities. These appearances do not constitute an endorsement of any party, candidate, or ideological perspective.
