South Carolina GOP Leader Who Pushed Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories Dies of Covid-19

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Pressley Stutts, who served as an executive committee member of the Greenville County Republican Party and the leader of the Greenville Tea Party, died in South Carolina after a battle with Covid-19.

Stutts had pushed back against vaccination efforts in his state and regularly shared Covid-19 conspiracy theories.

In June, he insisted that vaccination efforts amounted to an “ungodly initiative.”

He also backed a move by the South Carolina legislature to strip funds from colleges that require their students to be vaccinated in order to attend.

Last month, he dismissed the severity of the Delta variant, which was likely the one that killed him.

Stutts’ death was confirmed by Dan Harvell, who represents the Anderson County Republican Party on the South Carolina Republican Party’s executive committee.

“I really don’t have words to say about the imprint that he left on the political landscape in South Carolina,” Harvell told The Greenville News. “He had the kind of personality that enabled him to get done what others couldn’t do. He was like the brother I never had.”

Stutts had been in the hospital since August 1, after his oxygen levels dropped. Before he died, he confirmed to his Facebook followers that he was dealing with “double pneumonia in my lungs” but insisted that as “an ardent defender of Freedom and Liberty, I am for allowing the conscience of every many and woman to exercise what level of common sense the Good Lord has given you to do what is right for you.”