Exclusive — SC Tea Party Convention to Show America a Better Way Forward

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina — Joe Dugan, the executive producer of the South Carolina Tea Party Convention, told Breitbart News minutes before the convention was to officially begin that his goal with this program is to shape the narrative for the Tea Party movement moving forward in its battle against the political establishment in Washington, D.C.

“We are disgusted with Republican leadership,” Dugan said outside the convention center at the Springmaid Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Dugan added that the policies of President Barack Obama’s administration, particularly the push for amnesty and the political targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS, can only be stopped by grassroots Americans. “The Chamber of Commerce announcing they’re going to spend millions of dollars to defeat Tea Party candidates in this year’s elections is abominable,” Dugan said. “All they are after is amnesty for illegal aliens and cheap imported labor from foreign countries. And they’re doing that when there are unprecedentedly high numbers–92 million I believe–of Americans out of the workforce.”

“There is a different way,” Dugan said.

Dugan said the conference will focus on offering up alternative policy prescriptions to what the political establishment is pushing. For instance, Common Core, amnesty, Obamacare, and many more left-wing policies will be eviscerated at the conference. The event will empower grassroots activists and groups like Tea Party Patriots, FreedomWorks, and others to fight back.

The event is at capacity, he said, noting that more chairs might need to be added soon. It’s a pre-registration-only event and more than the 600 maximum activists have registered. Candidates challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham in the South Carolina GOP primary, including State Sen. Lee Bright, former Lt. Governor candidate Bill Connor, businesswoman Nancy Mace, and businessman Richard Cash, will appear at the event, as will several members of the U.S. Congress like Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Tom Rice (R-SC), and Jeff Duncan (R-SC).

Less Government’s Seton Motley is emceeing the event on Saturday, and on Sunday, Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow will emcee. Others like Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer, PolitiChicks National Director Ann-Marie Murrell, FreedomWorks Executive Vice President Adam Brandon, and Breitbart News’ Brandon Darby will be speaking at the event this weekend.

Dugan also said that this event will be live broadcast online, and may be the first time that a massive Tea Party convention like this is broadcast both in English and in Spanish. Breitbart News is carrying the live broadcast.