[Correction: Due to a source error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Angus Godwin pleaded guilty to a more severe charge. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on a six-month conditional discharge. The Chronicle apologizes for the error.]

The husband of the current chair of the Lexington County GOP pleaded guilty last week to a charge stemming from an incident in which he was accused of slapping a West Columbia City Council member at the group’s Christmas party nearly two years ago.

Angus Godwin, who, at the time of the incident at O’Hara’s Public House in Lexington, was an executive committeeman for his precinct and a voting member at county party meetings, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The charge stemmed from allegations that he slapped Mike Green at the holiday gathering, which took place Dec. 6, 2021.

Lexington Municipal Court confirmed to the Chronicle that Godwin pleaded guilty Aug. 14 under a six-month conditional discharge, a less severe version of probation where the monitoring is done by the court rather than a probation officer.

Pamela Godwin, Angus’ wife, was elected chair of the Lexington County GOP in April of this year.

Neither the Godwins nor the county GOP responded to the Chronicle’s requests for comment.

Angus Godwin’s conviction lands at a moment of schism for the Lexington County GOP.

The past month has seen The Post and Courier Columbia, The State and other local outlets reporting on mounting tension at party meetings.

Pamela Godwin, an organizer for Women for Trump, was among a slate of new county party leadership elected earlier this year that dubbed themselves “Save SC.” The current fracture isn’t between them and the establishment they sought to unsettle, but between themselves.

“During a special-called meeting Aug. 3, screaming matches between party members dominated the two-hour-long gathering,” The Post and Courier Columbia’s Leah Hincks wrote earlier this month. “Without a clear agenda, Pamela Godwin attempted to give a ‘chairman’s report.’ Just elected in April, party members and some of Godwin’s own lieutenants called for her to step down.”

On Aug. 7, two factions within the party held dueling meetings. One was held by 1st Vice Chair Mark Weber and 3rd Vice Chair John Allen, who accuse Godwin of “clos[ing] a party bank account and mov[ing] more than $6,800 of the party’s money — which was supposed to be used for candidate events or to seed other fundraisers — somewhere no one else in the party apparently knows,” The State’s Joseph Bustos reports. The other meeting was led by Pamela Godwin.

“It's always unpleasant to deal with people that are not following the organizations rules.” Weber said in a statement to the Chronicle “It’s especially difficult to deal with a Chairman that doesn't follow the organization’s rules or know how to be a real leader of the organization.”

“The party needs to move on and it is sad that some people in her circle of followers don't admit that her behavior, tactics and ‘leadership’ are horrible,” he added. “She has damaged so many relationships and discards people once she has used them for her purposes. I don't believe her pride or ego will leave any room for reconciliation.”

The Christmas party incident was another moment of passionate and high-profile disagreement among party members.

Green told the Chronicle at the time, “They think that I’m a RINO,” using the common abbreviation for “Republican in name only” to describe how he’s viewed by some in the county GOP.

“I voted for Trump, I voted for Trump all three times. In the primary and the general election and in the general election again. But apparently because I didn’t go to the Jan. 6 rally to try to overturn the election or I believe that President Biden is, you know, the true president, they think I’m a liberal. It’s amazing. I’ve never had to face something like this before.”

“He’s using the law to try to punish me because he doesn’t believe in freedom,” Godwin said at the time. “This was a political hit to get someone that has an opinion that’s opposing his out of the picture.”

Now, for his part now, Green told the Chronicle he doesn’t want to dwell on the past.

He said he’s “fine with disagreement” and fine with Angus Godwin continuing to be a part of the party so long as violence isn’t part of the equation.

When asked, he said the censure he received from the county party last year was clearly retaliation after what went down at the Christmas party, but he also indicated divisions in the county GOP are starting to heal.

“There's a lot of people that are starting to work together now that weren't talking to each other before, now are talking and they're actively working together,” he said. “So I think this will build a stronger party, and I look forward to us having a stronger party and doing bigger and better things in Lexington County.”