But King has also set up an invitation-only coffee in Charleston with a small group of area GOP leaders, according to Lin Bennett, a vice chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

Bennett, the former leader of the Charleston County GOP, has brokered similar meetings in the past for ambitious politicians hoping to make inroads into the state’s conservative movement.

“When they call and ask me to do that, my thought is maybe they are thinking about a presidential run,” Bennett told CNN.