Haley says goodbye, thanks residents for changing SC's image

They did it by stepping up to every challenge, through every tragedy, every time, she said.

[...] in so doing, the people of South Carolina changed our image in a way no piece of legislation or shift in policy or job announcement could have ever accomplished.

[...] she thanked "Team South Carolina" for making that happen, saying local leaders stopped thinking regionally and competing against each other to work with state leaders and present a united front to lure companies to the state and expand existing ones.

Critics noted she did not address the Legislature's top priorities of shoring up the state pension system and fixing South Carolina's roads.

Legislators have said Haley's yearslong pledge to veto a gas tax increase have stymied efforts to find a solution.

Legislators say they're eager for McMaster, a staple of South Carolina Republican politics for decades, to take the helm, expecting him to take a congenial approach to working with legislators.