Yesterday was very difficult for the state of South Carolina. For those of us, and there are many, who knew at least one of the victims personally, it was even harder to deal with the tragedy.
Beyond the personal loss of my friend Senator Clementa Pinckney, his death will have a tremendous negative impact on our state government not only because of his good community and legislative work for his constituents and all the people of the state; but also because we are now deprived of a future South Carolina political leader who had so much promise.