The 37-3 vote on second reading Monday easily surpassed the two-thirds majority needed during a third and final vote that would send the measure to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
With Gov. Nikki Haley on the record saying the flag needs to come down, a two-thirds vote in the House would consign the battle flag, which has flown from a 30-foot pole as part of a Confederate Soldier Monument in front of the Statehouse steps since 2000, to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. The vote followed weeks of protests and growing demands by politicians, civil rights activists, community leaders and businesses to “Take It Down,” saying it symbolized the racism that allegedly led to the mass killing at the church.
“That issue had to be resolved,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, who voted to remove it. “It had been festering for a long, long time.”
