South Carolina

Annie Andrews won the Senate seat with 51.1% of the vote to 46.6% for the Republican, Darline Graham, in a state Donald Trump carried by 17.9 points in 2024. On the same ballot Alan Wilson beat the Democrat, Jermaine Johnson, for governor, 51.6% to 47.1%, and Republicans won all six of the other statewide offices, every one by single digits: Ellen Weaver won the superintendent’s race by 2.8 points, Mike Burkhold the comptroller general’s by 4.1, David Stumbo the attorney general’s by 4.7 and Curtis Loftis the treasurer’s by 5.1; the agriculture commissioner and the secretary of state won by 5.9 and 6.0. Democrats gained one U.S. House seat. In the First District Nancy Lacore beat Jenny Costa Honeycutt by 1.0 points, in a district Trump carried by 12.9, and Lacore said on November 4 that Honeycutt’s campaign had called to concede; she takes the seat held by Rep. Nancy Mace.¹ In the Second, Rep. Joe Wilson won a 15th term by 2,926 votes after a state-mandated recount, and the AP called the race on November 11.²

The Senate race finished 22.4 points to the left of the 2024 presidential vote, and the U.S. House vote went from R+20.6 to R+2.6. Turnout was high for a midterm. By 4:30 p.m. on Election Day 1,797,335 South Carolinians had voted, the State Election Commission said, more than the 1,726,527 of 2018, the previous high for a governor’s election.³ The Senate race drew 2,041,487 votes in our count, 120% of the 2022 total and 80% of the 2024 presidential vote. Andrews drew 102 votes for every 100 Kamala Harris won in the state, more than Harris herself. Graham drew 64 for every 100 of Trump’s.

Every region moved by double digits. The Spartanburg area moved furthest, 28.4 points, from R+33.6 to R+5.2, and the Greenville area, which casts 18% of the vote, moved 24.8, to R+8.2; both still voted Republican. The Charleston area went from R+4.3 to D+18.3, the Columbia area from D+0.2 to D+24.0, and the state’s part of the Charlotte area crossed over, from R+20.4 to D+1.5. The Myrtle Beach area moved least, 17.1 points, and stayed Republican by 21.5. The small towns and rural counties went from R+16.9 to D+3.4.

The largest of the 13 counties that voted for Trump in 2024 and for Andrews this year is Greenville County. It went from R+22.2 to D+2.2 and cast 215,533 votes, 11% of the state’s total. Spartanburg County moved farther, 28.9 points, and stayed Republican: Trump had carried it by 33.6, and Graham carried it by 4.7. Kershaw County, in the Columbia area, came within 1.1 points of crossing, and Lexington County went from R+33.5 to R+7.7. Charleston County went from D+5.7 to D+26.1. No county moved toward the Republicans.

Republicans keep the governor’s office and majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.^{4, 5} They lost their two-thirds of the House. Republicans fell from 89 to 79 of 124 seats, a net Democratic gain of 10, and Live 5 News reported that the Republican House supermajority had ended.^{4, 6} Two state House seats went to recounts. In Lexington County, Democrat Joe Madge beat Republican Micah Caskey, who had been chosen to become majority leader, 7,263 to 7,157 in a recount finalized November 11; in Greenville County, Republican David Vaughan won District 27 by 32 votes.^{7, 8} The state Democratic Party spent nearly $1 million on House races, which Live 5 News called unprecedented for the party.⁴

The state constitution requires two-thirds of each house to pass a bill over a governor’s veto, and two-thirds of the members elected to each house, 83 in the House, to propose a constitutional amendment. By the seat counts, House Republicans can no longer send an amendment to voters without Democratic votes.^{6, 9} Senators serve four-year terms, and the only state Senate contest on the results page kept by MultiState, a government relations firm, was a special election, won by Republican James Burns. Republicans retain control of the chamber.^{4, 6, 9} Elections are run by the State Election Commission’s executive director, Conway Belangia; the commission appoints the director with the Senate’s consent, and the governor appoints its five members, so the incoming governor makes those appointments.¹⁰

Wilson said affordability will guide his administration. “Everything we do, our North Star, will be to make our state more affordable for South Carolina families,” he said at his first transition news conference. Among his top priorities he named authority for governors to suspend the gas tax in times of crisis, and he said that power needs guardrails.⁵ In an interview with WIS he restated his campaign promise to eliminate the state income tax, named finishing the V.C. Summer nuclear work as a priority and said he has working relationships with Democratic legislators.¹¹

Charleston County voters approved continuing the half-cent transportation sales tax, with 65% in favor. Live 5 News reported it will raise more than $4 billion over 25 years for roads, public transit and the greenbelt program, including a rapid transit line from North Charleston to downtown Charleston.¹² In Greenville County, Councilman Kyle Long held County Council District 28 by 11 votes over Democrat Thomas Sanders after a recount completed November 10.⁸ No Supreme Court seat was on the ballot: the General Assembly elects the justices.⁹

Republicans kept 11 of the seats they held. Their closest wins were the Second District, by 1.0 points, the superintendent’s office, by 2.8, and the governor’s office, by 4.5. In the 4th District William Timmons won by 6.1 points where Trump’s margin was 23.1, and in the 5th Wes Climer won by 5.7. In the Senate race 21 of the state’s 46 counties still voted Republican. Two of their wins came only after recounts: state House District 27, by 32 votes, and the Second Congressional District, a hold, by 2,926.^{2, 8}

The next Senate seat on the ballot, in 2028, is Republican Tim Scott’s, in a state that voted R+17.9 for president in 2024 and D+4.5 in this year’s Senate race. Wilson and Lt. Gov.-elect Reichenbach are to be sworn in on January 13, 2027. The constitution bars anyone from being elected to more than two successive terms as governor, and the office is next on the ballot in 2030.^{9, 13}