BIG STORY: GOP holds onto S.C. constitutional offices, Wilson wins
ROUNDUP: Democrats break S.C. House GOP supermajority
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Hell freezes over!
BRACK: Palmetto state takeaways after the crushing blue wave
ANOTHER VIEW: Congress should insist on accountability without retribution
MYSTERY PHOTO: Renovation
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
GOP holds onto S.C. constitutional offices, Wilson wins
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse Bureau | For the fifth time in a row, Republican candidates swept the S.C.’s statewide constitutional offices Tuesday, though with dramatically smaller majorities than they’ve been accustomed to in recent years thanks to a blue wave that tightened races everywhere.
Here’s a look at what happened:
Secretary of State: In a race that garnered little attention, six-term incumbent Republican Mark Hammond defeated Democratic challenger James Belton by a 53% to 47% margin.
State Treasurer: Despite a state accounting scandal that resulted in an S.C. Senate vote to remove him from office, longtime GOP Treasurer Curtis Loftis held off Democratic nominee Vincent Coe by a 53% to 47% margin.
Attorney General: In the seat opened up by Wilson’s gubernatorial bid, Republican Eighth Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo secured a 52-48 win against Lowcountry Democratic attorney Richard Hricik.
Comptroller General: In the fight for this open seat, Republican businessman Mike Burkhold defeated Democratic CPA Tiffany Boozer by a 52%-48% margin.
State Superintendent of Education: Following a first term that made her a political lightning rod for some, incumbent Ellen Weaver beat North Charleston educator Sylvia Wright 51% to 48%, with United Citizens Party candidate Baba Amin Ojuok getting under 1% of the vote.
Commissioner of Agriculture: In this open seat, Republican Cody Simpson won his race over Democratic nominee DeShawn Blanding 52% to 46%, with Libertarian Michael Sullen at 2% and the United Citizens Party’s Chris Nelums under 1%.
Wilson wins S.C. governor’s race
Four-term Republican State Attorney General Alan Wilson notched a closer-than-expected victory Tuesday night over Richland County Democratic S.C. Rep. Jermaine Johnson in a South Carolina governor’s race that saw a record non-presidential turnout of about two million voters.
Final uncertified numbers showed Wilson and his lieutenant governor running mate, Florence County Sen. Mike Reichenbach, defeating Johnson and Charleston clean energy executive Sam Skardon by a 52%-47% margin.
In a victory statement, Wilson congratulated Johnson on a well-run race and said he was “deeply humbled and grateful for the trust the people of South Carolina have placed in me.”
“Now it’s time to turn that vision into action, bring our state together, and deliver the results South Carolinians deserve,” Wilson said. “The campaign may be over, but our work is just beginning. God bless South Carolina.”
Candidates representing two third-party tickets — the United Citizens Party’s Michael Addison and Candace Brewer, and the Green Party’s Walid Hakim and Arnold E. Karr — scored less than 1% each.
Johnson, a charismatic campaigner whose election-night performance defied polling that appeared to show him down by double digits heading into election day, conceded the race just after 11 p.m.
“We didn’t just build a campaign,” Johnson said in a social media post. “We built proof that a New S.C. is possible when every single person decides they count.”
Months of work
For Wilson, the win came at the end of a 16-month effort that saw him emerge from a crowded seven-person Republican primary field to force Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, then running with President Donald Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement, into a June 23 runoff.
But with polls showing Wilson pulling away during the two-week runoff sprint, Trump hedged his Evette bet in the closing days of the race by offering a rare dual endorsement of both candidates, setting the stage for Wilson’s nearly 40-point victory.
The momentum from that victory then carried into the fall campaign, with Wilson outraising and outspending his Democratic opponent by more than 2-1 through Oct. 15.
Issues that divided the candidates during the race included Medicaid expansion, which Johnson supported, and casino gambling, which Wilson said he would oppose even if voters endorsed it in a referendum.
Wilson will be sworn in as the state’s 58th governor on Jan. 13, succeeding retiring 10-year incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster.
Statehouse bureau chief Jack O’Toole contributed to this report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Democrats break S.C. House GOP supermajority
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | A longshot bet by S.C. Democrats to field candidates in all 124 state House races for the first time in decades paid off Tuesday night when the party picked up 10 seats, breaking the GOP’s supermajority lock on the chamber.
And while that modest achievement may not shine quite as brightly as Annie Andrews’ U.S. Senate shocker or Nancy Lacore’s First Congressional District victory, state party officials were quick to claim the win as the smoke cleared Wednesday morning.
“It’s the largest single net pickup that we can find in modern history,” S.C. Democratic Party Executive Director Jay Parmley told reporters, according to the S.C. Daily Gazette. “These numbers are just really through the roof for us.”
The biggest Republican loss of the night? Recently elected House Majority Leader Micah Caskey of Lexington County, who went down by just over 100 votes to Democratic challenger Joe Madge.
In a Wednesday social media post, Caskey noted that an automatic recount would be required since the margin was within 1%, but said he didn’t expect it to change the outcome.
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done on election integrity in the General Assembly,” Caskey wrote, “and we all have every reason to expect the final results to be exactly what the Election Commission says they are.”
The rest of Tuesday’s Democratic state House flips were spread across districts from the Upstate to the Lowcountry.
House District 12: In this district spanning McCormick and parts of Greenwood counties, Democratic candidate Jumelle Brooks defeated second-term Republican Rep. Daniel Gibson with 55% of the vote.
House District 57: Democratic nominee Cynthia Ford bested Republican Rep. Lucas Atkinson, a 10-year incumbent who switched parties this year, 52%-48% in this Pee Dee region seat.
House District 64: In Clarendon County, Democratic candidate Michele Demery captured 52% of the vote to beat two-term incumbent GOP Rep. Fawn Pedalino.
House District 66: Democratic challenger Heather Hart bested first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Jackie Terribile, a member of the S.C. Freedom Caucus, 51%-49%.
House District 92: In this Goose Creek-area district, Democratic nominee Byron Walters defeated two-term Republican Rep. Brandon Cox with 52% of the vote.
House District 98: In a rematch of the January special election that first put Republican Rep. Greg Ford in this Summerville-area seat, Democratic candidate Sonja Ogletree Satani beat the still-freshly-minted incumbent 55%-45%.
House District 102: Democratic challenger Montez Aiken defeated first-term GOP Rep. Harriet Holman 57%-43% in a district that reaches across upper Berkeley and Dorchester counties.
House District 116: In this Charleston-area seat, Democratic nominee Clay Middleton bested first-term Republican Rep. James Teeple 56%-44%.
House District 122: Democratic candidate Korey Williams captured 52% of the vote to beat two-term GOP Rep. Bill Hager in the Hampton County district.
In other recent news
U.S. SENATE: Andrews flips seat over Graham in blue wave. Annie Andrews, the Lowcountry pediatrician who campaigned for more than a year as a Democratic challenger to a four-term Republican in the U.S. Senate, accomplished something Tuesday that most didn’t think was possible – a major victory as a Democrat in ruby-red South Carolina.
- Dems take U.S. Senate seat in S.C.
- How S.C. voters’ support shifted to flip the U.S. Senate seat
- Rural S.C. voters propelled Democrat to the Senate
- Andrews says she’ll focus on ending war, cutting fuel prices, funding Medicaid
S.C.-1: Lacore claims First District for Democrats. Retired Adm. Nancy Lacore, fired without explanation last year by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will return to D.C. after defeating Charleston County Councilmember Jenny Honeycutt.
- Lacore flips S.C.-1 for Democrats
- Lacore’s upset fueled by wins in GOP strongholds
- Clyburn wins 18th term in U.S. House
- Republicans Wilson, Biggs, Timmons, Fry and Climer win U.S. House races
Citizens crave bipartisanship, bemoan high prices, rancor. Charleston City Paper editor Andy Brack took a pre-election road trip across America to listen to and share what everyday Americans were saying about the trajectory of the country. They didn’t hold back.
State’s flags flown at half-staff to honor Sanders. The state’s flags were at half-staff Thursday to honor former S.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge and former College of Charleston President Alex Sanders.
S.C. grocery aid no longer covers candy, sodas, other sugary foods. Grocery assistance in South Carolina no longer covers candy, sodas and other sugary drinks after a change in the program took effect Sunday.
S.C. Arts Commission board expands role in grant approval, policing language. At a special-called meeting on Nov. 5, the S.C. Arts Commission voted to adopt obscenity guidelines that are more strict than those required by South Carolina law.
Hell freezes over!
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for shining a light on critical issues in just the right way. This week, he offers his always special take on the state’s Nov. 3 election for a U.S. Senate seat.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Brack: Palmetto state takeaways after the crushing blue wave
Commentary by Andy Brack | The South Carolina Democratic Party’s strategy to run a viable candidate in each of the 124 seats in the S.C. House of Representatives paid off bigtime.
The 2026 national blue wave that transferred control of Congress away from Republicans had a coattail impact. Voters in S.C. House races cast ballots for enough Democratic candidates to break a GOP supermajority. That will have a real impact on the process of legislating in South Carolina as Republicans will no longer be able to steamroll Democrats on any issue they choose.
A clear takeaway is that having decent candidates makes a real difference in political races.
It’s a basic political concept that Fox News columnist Jason Chaffetz discussed after the blue wave blowout: “Fielding the better candidate is not optional. It may not always be definitive, but it is foundational. A candidate who cannot connect with people, articulate a positive vision of the future or run a disciplined campaign operation will eventually be vulnerable.”
Case in point: James Talarico, the Texas Democrat who won a U.S. Senate seat against a rightly maligned GOP attorney general. Despite hundreds of millions of negative Republican spending, Talarico connected with voters because he represented what they wanted – less corruption, less animosity and a deeper focus on issues like the cost of food and gas. The same kind of thing occurred in South Carolina where Dr. Annie Andrews prevailed over a Trump-endorsed incumbent, Darline Graham.
Other takeaways:
Endorsements may be losing their value. In a GOP special primary and runoff in August, Trump’s endorsement helped the newcomer Graham. But that didn’t seem to transfer to voters in the general election. Perhaps endorsements don’t matter as much as most politicos think.
Lack of results matters. Voters across the country seemed worn out with how Republicans in Congress didn’t do anything much to obstruct the poor decisions and policies by Trump or pass much of anything legislatively that could help regular people deal with higher prices on just about everything. So Tuesday’s voters sent the GOP to the woodshed across the nation to allow Democrats to make a historic flip of the U.S. Senate – something totally unexpected a year ago.
“This has been the most consequential election in this country in over 150 years, and today, voters were decisive and forceful in fighting against the forces of retrogression,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., after his Tuesday victory.
“Voters across America have chosen to put a check on the President and his corrupt administration. They have chosen Democrats to lead in the House and Senate Majority because we will be relentless in our fight to lower costs, expand opportunities, and give every American a fighting chance at the American dream.”
Prove it. Now that Democrats are retaking control of Congress, they need to keep their eyes on the doughnut, not the hole. In other words, they need to accomplish palpable things to create real change – otherwise they will face the same problem in two years that the GOP had in 2026.
In many ways, every election is a change election, noted former Congressman Beto O’Rourke during a recent interview in Texas: “There was no one for Republicans to blame for high diesel and gas prices, for low wages, for the ICE roundups that have not just broken up families, and put fear into communities, but have killed people throughout this state.”
Focus. Democrats need to focus on what voters want and resist temptations to “go after” Republicans. Sure, they need to make sure to hold bad actors accountable, but they don’t need to play the game of retribution. The remaining Republicans in Congress will do that for them.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Congress should insist on accountability without retribution
Editor’s Note: This editorial appeared in the Nov. 6 issue of the Charleston City Paper.
Founding father Thomas Jefferson expected churning waters in our democracy. Twice in 1820, he wrote about political unrest by noting, “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.”
The United States felt a huge blue wave – some say a tsunami – in a national rout in the midterm elections that rebuked two divisive years of Republican control and a Trump administration that has been cruel across the world.
Democrats seized control of Congress with stunning wins across the country – including a Senate pick-up by Annie Andrews in ruby-red South Carolina. Now they have a big job ahead to be the change that voters demanded in places that haven’t seen Democrats win in decades.
Yes, we are entering an unrivaled season of accountability. And it’s about time.
It’s about time that the Trump administration face the music for two years of corruption, ill-conceived tariffs, a nonsensical war with Iran, extralegal raids on communities and people by an immigration agency run amok, as well as harmful economic policies that led to unreasonably high prices on everything from gas to food.
The new Congress run by Democrats must rein in the presidential power assumed by Donald Trump when the GOP Congress failed to follow laws to keep him in check. But they need to do so using the rule of law and procedural standards in place for generations. They do not need to sink to retributive acts to return the country to normal. Rather, they must take deliberate, intentional steps that counter the kind of un-American leadership that led to the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The new Congress under Democrats will have extra powers that the party hasn’t had for the last few years. It will have the power of subpoena. Democrats must use it to demand secret documents from the administration. They must use it to have hearings in the clear light of day to make administration officials testify about harmful, illegal and abusive policies by agencies from the Justice Department to Defense Department. They must use it as the foundation for impeachment and conviction of officials who broke the law.
Simply put, retribution isn’t needed. Outing bad actors in the Trump administration using the rule of law and powers granted to Congress in the Constitution is sufficient and steady. There will be enough retribution by moderate Republicans who are shaking in their boots because of their failures to hold the Trump administration accountable. Look for a shocking season ahead of finger-pointing, back-stabbing and excuses from a GOP that has already started scurrying away from Trump like cockroaches in light.
As the administration’s cabinet officials start heading for the door, the Democratic Congress can use its new powers for more. The Senate, in fact, can veto administration nominees who don’t meet the measure of being shining lights of public service. Congress also can start using its power over the federal purse to rein in outrageous building projects envisioned by Trump to distract Americans from problems in urban, rural and suburban communities.
The obliteration of the Republican agenda in these midterm elections is just the start of the nation’s return to political normalcy seen under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Democrats keep their eyes on the ball – true accountability for Trump, his cronies, his cabinet, his family and bad actors in his party. Now is the time.
Renovation
Here’s a building undergoing some reconstruction, but where and what is it? Extra credit: Is it related to some event this month in the state? Please send in your best guess of where this is – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com. And if you have a mystery photo to share, send that along too (but tell us what it is because we’re horrible guessers.)
Last week’s mystery, “Vista,” showed grave markers in Custer National Cemetery at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park in eastern Montana.
Congratulations to those who figured it out: Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Jay Altman of Columbia; Bill Segars of Hartsville; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; and Frank Bouknight of Summerville.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
Send us your thoughts
Please send us your thoughts about politics and policy in South Carolina, but make sure to leave phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We publish non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your views.
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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