Meet the down-ballot S.C. candidates you may not know

Democratic consultant Paul Begala used to say that being famed campaign guru James Carville’s business partner was like being the late and much-loved Dolly Parton’s feet: Sure, you’re great. But who’s ever gonna notice you?

Candidates running in statewide down-ballot races know the feeling.

After all, it’s not as if South Carolina’s candidates for (deep breath now) attorney general, superintendent of education, treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, comptroller general and secretary of state aren’t working just as hard as gubernatorial candidates Alan Wilson and Jermaine Johnson or U.S. Senate contenders Annie Andrews and Darline Graham.

But how many state constitutional candidates can you actually name off the top of your head?

“That’s their challenge,” Citadel political science professor DuBose Kapeluck told the City Paper. “Nobody really knows much about them and they’re trying to get elected to positions that don’t have very high visibility.”

And that, he noted, tends to benefit GOP candidates in S.C., where the average voter is inclined to vote Republican if he or she is not familiar with the candidates in the race.

“It’s an easy heuristic,” Kapeluck said, using the academic term for the mental shortcuts we take to find the right answer when we don’t have enough information in our heads. “So for offices that aren’t headline-grabbing positions, people tend to just vote for the party.”

And that’s certainly a common way to solve the problem. But if you’re interested in the alternative, read on for a look at the major party candidates in each race.

Attorney general

This cycle’s premier Palmetto State legal matchup pits Republican 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo against Democratic Lowcountry attorney Richard Hricik for state attorney general.

Given their different backgrounds, perhaps it’s no surprise they have different plans for the office if elected.

For Stumbo, that means an agenda that’s focused on crime and conservative legal principles: “protect victims of crimes, put criminals behind bars, stand firm in defense of the Constitution and the liberties it guarantees, and keep government power in check.”

Hricik, on the other hand, argues that “not all bad guys carry guns — some wear corporate suits.” That’s why he says he would “go after all of the bad guys,” to fight “corruption, consumer fraud, violent crime, and powerful interests that put profits, politics, or power above the people.”

The wrinkle in the race? Hricik has less than $100 in the bank due to his pledge to refuse all campaign contributions — including his own.

State superintendent of education

Calling herself a “common-sense reformer,” first-term incumbent State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver has brought an unapologetically conservative approach to the job — fighting for private school vouchers, taking over failing school systems and putting right-of-center radio host Dennis Prager’s videos in the classroom.

Weaver’s pitch? Test scores across the state are up, with 62% of S.C. third graders now reading at grade level, and more than 90% of all students now attend a school that received an average or better grade on this year’s state school report cards — real and measurable gains since 2022.

But her Democratic opponent, North Charleston teacher Sylvia Wright, says she’s “seen firsthand the negative ripple effects” of Weaver’s policies, and argues that S.C. schools need more resources and less “politicking.”

On Oct. 9, the S.C. Democratic Party entered the race with the rollout of a new website, weaverfailedthetest.com, which attacks Weaver’s voucher program and challenges her claim that she’s improved S.C. public schools.

State treasurer

With the star of TV’s The Apprentice now midway through his second term in the White House, perhaps it’s appropriate that Curtis Loftis’s fourth term as S.C. treasurer turned into an extended season of Survivor.

First, there was the phantom $1.8 billion in state cash that didn’t actually exist. Then, there was the federal securities investigation — and not one but two official state reports that found Loftis had been at least partly responsible for the mess. Finally, on April 21 of last year, the GOP supermajority S.C. Senate voted 33-8 to remove him from office.

That’s right. His fellow Republicans tried to vote him off the island.

But when the S.C. House let the year’s legislative session end three weeks later without voting on the measure, Loftis quietly reversed his earlier pledge not to seek reelection and got to work campaigning.

Now, Loftis is facing Democratic nominee Vincent Coe, a bank examiner who’s promised to bring his professional skills to the job of watching taxpayer money.

Coe’s message: “Your money doesn’t have a party. If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Commissioner of agriculture

Regardless of who wins next month, S.C. farm policy is about to get a lot younger, as 35-year-old Republican Cody Simpson and 29-year-old Democrat DeShawn Blanding square off to replace 22-year incumbent Hugh Weathers. And you can hear that quiet turn to the future in both their platforms.

Simpson, a fifth-generation farmer who’s worked with both Gov. Henry McMaster and President Donald Trump on farm issues, talks about cutting red tape and putting more of the department’s services online.

Blanding, who served as an agriculture staffer in the U.S. House and Senate before returning to S.C. to become a fourth-generation farmer, says state. farm policy needs to “modernize,” seeking new investments and markets.

One thing neither would change? S.C.’s rural character, which both say needs to be protected from ever-encroaching suburban development.

Comptroller general

If $1.8 billion in made-up money sounds like a major news story, could we interest you in $3.5 billion?

That was the full amount of the phantom cash that state investigators say S.C. was carrying on its books for the better part of 10 years. And unlike the phony $1.8 billion, where several office-holders were found to have some responsibility, the broader $3.5 billion error landed in the lap of the state’s top accountant: S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, who resigned in 2023.

Now, Republican businessman Mike Burkhold and Democratic CPA Tiffany Boozer are competing for the open seat, which is being vacated by McMaster-appointee Brian Gaines.

Burkhold touts his business record and says he’d use the office to help control state spending. Boozer, who joined the Comptroller General’s office after Eckstrom resigned, stresses her work as a professional accountant.

Secretary of state

Perhaps the quietest of S.C.’s statewide contests, the race features six-term GOP incumbent Mark Hammond and Democratic nominee Jason Belton, who serves as vice president of the AFL-CIO’s Greater Columbia Central Labor Council.

The winner will lead the office responsible for maintaining the state’s corporate and nonprofit records.

Hammond is running on continuity and his 24-year record of service. Belton, on the other hand, argues that the office itself needs reinvention, with stronger oversight of deceptive fundraising, less bureaucracy for businesses and a new role for the secretary as head of the state’s election commission.

Speaking of which: South Carolina voters head to the polls Nov. 3.

Jack O’Toole is Statehouse bureau chief for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com