He failed to move forward in a 12-5 confirmation vote. Before Simmer was rejected in the Senate Medical Affairs committee, McMaster said the rhetoric against him did not contain “an ounce of truth.”

“This is the very reason that people do not want to get into public office,” McMaster said in January 2025 when asked about the claims against Simmer. “Because they are erroneously attacked for ulterior motives. It is dangerous. It is dangerous for the state. This man is eminently qualified.”

McMaster’s office did not comment on the legislation March 17.

The bill’s language asserts that if the Senate doesn’t confirm an appointment before the second Thursday in May, then the office will need to be vacated for any appointment confirmation.

Senators added an amendment that would also prevent the governor from reappointing the current interim appointee — in this case, Simmer.

“The governor was high on Dr. Simmer and I think there was a lot of support early on, but as things have moved along by virtue of the vote you saw on the Medical Affairs Committee last year, and then just some comments you’ve heard on the floor, I think that support has dissipated to the point that we are where we are now,” Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said.

Under a restructuring bill passed in 2025 combining the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Department of Public Health, Simmer could have remained in his position until a successor was appointed by the governor, even if the full Senate voted against him.

That’s why members of the Senate felt they needed to force Simmer out under the legislation they passed March 17, Massey said, because they had allowed him to remain in the position this long.

“Based on where we are in the Senate, the consensus in the Senate is that Dr. Simmer should probably find another job,” Massey said.

Simmer led South Carolina’s public health response during the final months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as through two hurricanes.