Office of the Governor of South CarolinaGovernment

The Office of the Governor of South Carolina is the supreme executive authority of the State of South Carolina, supporting the Governor as head of the state government and commander-in-chief of the South Carolina National Guard. Operating from the South Carolina State House in Columbia, its constitutional mandate is to execute state laws, submit the annual executive state budget, sign or veto legislation enacted by the General Assembly, and appoint executive cabinet directors and board members. Established in 1776 under South Carolina's inaugural state constitution during the American Revolution, with John Rutledge chosen as the state's first president (later designated governor), the office was historically one of the weakest governorships in the country until modern constitutional reforms significantly expanded its executive cabinet authority.