Politics
‘New Day in South Carolina’: House Votes to Take Down Confederate Flag
State Rep. John King, right, D-York, hugs a woman after the House approved a bill removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds early Thursday, July 9, 2015, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
COLUMBIA (Post and Courier) — The South Carolina House of Representatives made two historic votes early Thursday morning, ordering the permanent removal of the Statehouse’s Confederate battle flag.
House members voted on a bill that furls the rebel banner and sends it to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Both votes took place within minutes of each other.
House members first approved of the bill on a 93-27 vote around 12:58 a.m. They followed up with a second and final 94-20 vote around 1:11 a.m.
Gov. Nikki Haley said in a written statement that House members, as senators did before them, served the state and her people with great dignity.
“I’m grateful for their service and their compassion,” Haley said. “It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.”
