--- description: Ahead of an all-but-certain presidential bid, Ben Carson has chosen Ruth Sherlock as State Director in South Carolina. title: Ben Carson Picks South Carolina State Director image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8de01a047377b1/69877d59428a9e46a7cc6eea/national-prayer-breakfast-ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ben Carson Picks South Carolina State Director  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 12, 2015 8:27 PM CUT  Ben Carson, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015\. The talent show that is a presidential campaign began in earnest Saturday as more than 1,200 Republican activists who probably will vote in Iowa's caucuses packed into a historic Des Moines theater to see and hear from a parade of their party's prospective entries. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Ben Carson, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015\. The talent show that is a presidential campaign began in earnest Saturday as more than 1,200 Republican activists who probably will vote in Iowa's caucuses packed into a historic Des Moines theater to see and hear from a parade of their party's prospective entries. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDaniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 12, 2015 8:27 PM CUT Ahead of an all-but-certain presidential bid, Republican Ben Carson has chosen a former Newt Gingrich operative as his state director in South Carolina. Ruth Sherlock has committed to the position, according to Carson’s campaign manager Terry Giles. Sherlock served this role before as the Deputy State Director for Gingrich’s successful 2012 campaign in South Carolina, and was later promoted to become the Gingrich campaign’s national deputy political director. Sherlock was also the campaign manager and chief of staff for former Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.), and has served as the regional finance director for the Republican National Committee. Carson, the former head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, is expected to make a formal announcement about a run in May. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3707802/ben-carson-2016-south-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3707802/ben-carson-2016-south-carolina/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Picks South Carolina State Director","datePublished":"2015-02-12T20:27:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:23:30.580Z","description":"She had a successful run in the state in 2012","url":"https://time.com/3707802/ben-carson-2016-south-carolina/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Dr. Benjamin S. Carson","Republican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8de01a047377b1/69877d59428a9e46a7cc6eea/national-prayer-breakfast-ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8de01a047377b1/69877d59428a9e46a7cc6eea/national-prayer-breakfast-ben-carson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Conservative Activists And Leaders Attend The Iowa Freedom Summit","caption":"Conservative Activists And Leaders Attend The Iowa Freedom Summit","creditText":"Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3707802/ben-carson-2016-south-carolina/","name":"Ben Carson Picks South Carolina State Director"}}]}] ```