Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday in Senate 42 primary

Three Statehouse veterans face off in a Tuesday primary to be the Democratic nominee for a North Charleston-centric state Senate seat. Each seeks to replace former state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, who stepped down to take an advisory position with the Biden administration on a trade commission.

[9/6 UPDATE: S.C. Reps. Wendell Gilliard and Deon Tedder will face off in a Sept. 19 runoff based on the results of the Sept. 5 primary.]

Facing off in the Sept. 5 Democratic primary are S.C. Reps. Wendell Gilliard of Charleston, J.A. Moore of North Charleston and Deon Tedder, also of North Charleston.

The seat they seek to represent stretches from a strip of West Ashley north of Savannah Highway to the Septima P. Clark Parkway in downtown Charleston and north from the upper peninsula. It winds its way along Interstate 26 to include Charleston International Airport and chunk of North Charleston. [See map.] It’s a suburban and urban district where almost half of the voters are 25 to 44 years old. Of the 54,700 voters in the district, 54% are Black and 56% are women.

Find out if you live in Senate District 42 and where your polling place is located.

Gilliard, 69, is a former member of Charleston City Council who has represented House District 111 in Charleston for 15 years. He’s a past union organizer and former president of the United Steelworkers local union. For 28 years, he worked at Albright and Wilson chemical plant. Key issues are passing a living minimum age for workers, ending gentrification and having safer neighborhoods, including tougher gun laws.

Moore, a chef and small business owner born in Orangeburg, was first elected to the Statehouse in 2018 to represent House District 15 in Berkeley and Charleston counties. His top three priorities are for more affordable housing to be available for people throughout the tri-county region, more jobs and better funding for public education. “The status quo — underfunded schools, gridlock traffic, rising housing costs — isn’t good enough,” he says.

Tedder, a 34-year-old attorney born in North Carolina, lives in North Charleston and represents House District 109. First elected in November 2020, he says his top three priorities are improving education, increasing the availability of affordable housing and criminal law reform. According to his campaign website, “Deon has led the fight against attempts to censor Black history from being taught in the classroom and has advocated for more investment in public education.”

If a runoff is needed after Tuesday’s primary, it will be held Sept. 19, according to SCVotes.gov.

The Democratic nominee then will face North Charleston Republican Rosamond Kamara, who will appear on the ballot as Rosa Kay, on Nov. 7.