Shortly after 6pm Tuesday the United State Senate voted to confirm Governor Nikki Haley as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate voted 96 to 4 to confirm Haley despite her inexperience on the international stage.
Upon confirmation Haley officially resigned from the governorship, which she has held since 2011, and Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster assumed the role. She leaves with two years left in her second term. McMaster was sworn in by Chief Justice Don Beatty to be the 117th governor of South Carolina.
News of McMaster’s rise to the governor’s mansion comes not long after Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman resigned as Pro Tempore. Last week the state Supreme Court clarified that the Pro Tempore is next to ascend to the Lt. Governor’s spot, a job Leather has repeatedly said he does not want. Leatherman will remain a senator and will hold onto his seat in the Finance Committee.