Jay Lucas

Former Republican House Speaker Jay Lucas will watch over the South Carolina chamber from now on after his official portrait was unveiled Tuesday. Lucas started his House career in 1999 as member No. 124 out of 124. He ran the chamber for eight years, first reluctantly after former Speaker Bobby Harrell was indicted for improperly spending campaign money. But he grew into the job, leading the House through the debate to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse lawn after nine Black worshipers were killed in a racist shooting at a Charleston church, through a multibillion-dollar debacle after work stopped on a pair of nuclear plants, through COVID-19 and raising the gas tax for roads.