COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – Six presidents of South Carolina in the US easily won re-election on Tuesday. The youngest lost.
US Democratic Representative Joe Cunningham lost to Republican Nancy Mace when the Republican Party regained a spot he had lost in 2018. It was the most expensive and most watched US House race in the armchair anchored by Charleston and Hilton Head Island.
Mace became only the second woman elected for a full term in the South Carolina Congress.
US Representative Joe Wilson survived one of his most difficult re-election struggles by winning his tenth full term over Adair For Boroughs, a Democratic newcomer who overcame him.
In all, Republicans won at least three state seats in the Senate and two seats in the state chamber and felt that as more results came, they could turn even more.
On an expected positive point in Tuesday’s election for Democrats, US Representative Jim Clyburn won his 15th term.
US Republican Rep. William Timmons won a second term, US Rep. Jeff Duncan won a sixth term, US Republican Rep. Ralph Norman won a full second term and US Rep. Tom Rice won a fifth term .
Each of the seven US House districts in South Carolina had a Republican versus a Democrat. And four of the seven challengers to the titleholders were women.
Here are some of the other races that appear at the polls in South Carolina:
2nd DISTRICT
Republican Rep. Of the United States of South Carolina, Joe Wilson, won a 10th full term in Congress.
Wilson defeated Democratic challenger Adair Ford Boroughs.
Wilson has been keeping a low profile since brief contact with national infamy, when he shouted “You lie!” President Barack Obama during a speech before a joint session of Congress in September 2009.
The district is one of the most conservative in South Carolina, stretching from the suburbs of Columbia to the firmly Republican Lexington County and Aiken.
Boroughs explored national frustration with politics and called herself a young energetic candidate who wanted to shake up the status quo. She raised more than $ 2 million, while Wilson raised about $ 1.5 million.
But the recognition of Wilson’s name and a conservatively designed district to help his strengths 10 years ago were too much to overcome.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve,” said Wilson in the only debate between candidates in October.
Wilson was first elected to the United States House in 2001, after 17 years in the South Carolina Senate.
Sonny Narang also ran for the Alliance Party and Kathleen Wright for the Constitution Party.
3rd DISTRICT
US Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan won a sixth term in South Carolina.
Duncan defeated Democrat Hosea Cleveland, a retired insurance salesman who ran for the United States House in the last four elections, winning his party’s nomination in 2020 and 2016, when he was unopposed.
The electoral district covers 11 counties in northwestern South Carolina, west of Greenville and north of Aiken.
Duncan spent eight years in the South Carolina House before running for the US House. He is known as one of the most conservative members of Congress.
Duncan raised nearly $ 1.4 million for his re-election campaign. Cleveland raised about $ 23,000.
4th DISTRICT
Republican Representative William Timmons was re-elected to the U.S. House in South Carolina.
Timmons defeated Democrat Kim Nelson in the district that includes Greenville and Spartanburg.
Nelson was a political newcomer, while Timmons was elected to the U.S. House in 2018 after two years in the South Carolina Senate.
Timmons’ 23 percentage point win in 2018 was the closest the Democratic challenger has come to winning the seat this decade.
Timmons raised more than $ 1.3 million. Nelson, a public health advocate, campaigned substantially to improve health and raised nearly $ 160,000.
Michael Chandler was also running for the Constitution Party.
5th DISTRICT
US Rep. Ralph Norman won a second full term in South Carolina.
Norman defeated Democrat Moe Brown, a former wide receiver for the University of South Carolina football team who was running for political office for the first time.
Norman continues with Republican ownership of the chair that started in 2010 when President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, defeated John Spratt, a Democrat who served 14 terms.
The sprawling district includes the fast-growing suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, sections north of the Interstate 85 corridor and areas around Sumter.
Brown praised his days at the state Department of Commerce under former Republican governor Nikki Haley. Meanwhile, Norman put Haley in person to begin his re-election campaign earlier this year.
Brown tried to make it a competitive race on the money side, raising about $ 450,000. Norman more than doubled that.
6th DISTRICT
South Carolina’s oldest congressman and Democratic leader of the House is returning to the US House for a 15th term.
House majority leader Jim Clyburn defeated Republican challenger John McCollum.
The congressional district connects parts of Columbia with parts of Charleston and was designed to ensure that it had a majority of minority voters. Clyburn is the only representative the district has had since it was designed that way in the early 1990s.
The Navy veteran and technology company employee contradicted Clyburn’s experience, saying that while he thought Clyburn was a good and respectable man, no one should serve in the United States House for so long.
Clyburn’s most visible decision in 2020 was to strongly support Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at a time when the former vice president was vulnerable, helping him to a resounding victory in the South Carolina primaries and the nomination of the party .
Clyburn raised $ 3.2 million for what always seemed like an easy re-election offer, while McCollum did not raise enough until the end of October to file a federal campaign report.
Mark Hackett of the Constitution Party also ran for the chair.
7th DISTRICT
Republican Congressman Tom Rice won a fifth term in the U.S. House, remaining the only representative his district in South Carolina has ever had.
Rice defeated Democrat Melissa Watson in the district that stretches from Darlington to Florence and Myrtle Beach. It was designed in 2012, when South Carolina gained enough population to obtain a new district. Rice won every race.
Wilson is a teacher who has promised to work for economic development, education and infrastructure.
Rice is promoting a proposal that would cut restaurant meals on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in half, with the government reimbursing restaurants. The half deal would last a month.
Rice raised more than $ 1.3 million for his re-election, while Wilson raised about $ 130,000.
STATEHOUSE RACES
Republicans made gains in the South Carolina State House, including the dismissal of a Democratic state senator who served for 30 years and another who served for 16 years and ran for governor twice without success.
Democratic Senator Vincent Sheheen was defeated by Republican Penry Gustafson, a small businesswoman and community volunteer in a district anchored in Kershaw County.
Sheheen ran for governor in 2010 and 2014 and was the author of the bill that removed the Confederate flag from a flagpole in front of the Statehouse after nine black church members were killed in a racist attack in 2015 at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston.
Republican businessman and lawyer Billy Garrett defeated Democratic Senator Floyd Nicholson, who was looking for a fourth term in the district near Greenwood County.
Democratic state senator Glenn Reese, in office since 1991, was defeated by talk show host, businessman and former Spartanburg County Republican Party president Josh Kimbrell.
Lancaster County Republican Party President Sandy McGarry won a seat in the state chamber, defeating Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell. The Democrat was looking for a fourth term and ran for vice governor in 2018 for the Democratic ticket. Democratic MP Laurie Funderburk of Kershaw County also lost to Republican Vic Dabney, a retired military helicopter pilot.
All 46 South Carolina Senate seats are on the ballot, and more than two-thirds of them have a dispute between a Democrat and a Republican.
The Republican started Tuesday with a 27-19 majority.
Almost half of the 124 races in the House of South Carolina have opponents from both major parties. Republicans started election day with 78 seats.
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