Nikki Haley’s roots in Lexington County run deep.

But that doesn’t mean she has the backing of the county’s Republican Party.

At a special called meeting Feb. 19, the local GOP voted to endorse former president Donald Trump over Haley, his lone remaining challenger for the 2024 Republican nomination and a former governor of South Carolina.

The move came with just five days to go before the state’s Republican presidential primary, set to take place Feb. 24.

“The Republicans of Lexington County made it clear that they support President Trump in the First in the South Primary and wanted to make their voices heard,” county party Chair Mark Weber is quoted in a release. “Our party and our committees are taking a proactive stance in tackling the issues of today, and they decided that we must coalesce behind Donald J. Trump to end the destruction of the Biden administration as soon as possible.

“The Lexington County Republican Party looks forward to having continued influence of our conservative values moving forward — whether it be in the primary process, or through policy advocacy.  We are excited to take the bold step of endorsing a candidate for president.”

It’s not the only recent announcement that finds the county GOP lining up with Trump.

The party will host Douglas Frink at a March 27 meeting at The Flight Deck Restaurant in Lexington. The event’s featured speaker holds a doctorate in electrochemistry, according to event organizers, and is purported to be a “modeler of pandemics and elections” who can prove “there is indeed election fraud that is purposely used to manipulate results, first at the state level and then replicated at the respective county/precinct levels.”

Chamber draws crowd with business expo

The Lexington Chamber’s annual Business Lexpo, which allows local businesses an opportunity to showcase what they do and interact with customers and other local businesses, was back and bigger than ever Feb. 15.

The event drew about 650 attendees, the chamber reports, and featured 92 exhibitors, including local restaurants slinging tastes of their signature fare, along with beer, wine and soft drinks to amplify the happy hour vibe.

And many booths got into the spirit of decorating to the event’s theme — Mardi Gras to pay into the fact that the event followed quickly behind Fat Tuesday.

The following businesses were awarded for the quality of their decorations:

• Best of Show — Lazy Creek Pet Food Center
• 1st Runner Up — David Wealth Management Group, LLC
• 2nd Runner Up — Bela Family Dentistry

“It was a hard fought competition, we had so many incredible booths at this year's LEXPO. Thanks to all the businesses that got into the spirit and took part!” the chamber posted to Facebook.