Jun 09 2010
Primary Election Recap
There were no real surprises in the big races last night. The elections pretty much came down the way the recent polling said it would.
In the Republican gubernatorial primary State Representative Nikki Haley came up just short of the 50% needed to avoid a run off election. With 48.9% of the vote she will go on to face Congressman Gresham Barrett who she beat by a more than two to one margin last night. Hopefully that’s a sign of what’s to come in the run off. On the Democratic side, State Senator Vincent Sheheen won a decisive victory over Jim Rex and State Senator Robert Ford with 59% of the vote. He will face either Haley or Barrett in November.
In the First Congressional District State Representative Tim Scott prevailed in a nine person primary and will move to a run off election to face Paul Thurmond. The winner of the run off will challenge Democrat Ben Frasier who defeated Robert Burton in their primary.
In the Third Congressional District, a Republican run off will be decided between Richard Cash and State Representative Jim Duncan. The winner of that challenge will face Democrat Jane Dyer who won the Democratic primary and ran against Barrett in 2008.
In the Fourth Congressional District, Trey Gowdy defeated Congressman Bob Inglis, however not enough to decisively win the nomination. They too will head to a run off and face Democrat Paul Corden in the general election.
In the Sixth Congressional District there was surprisingly a three way Republican primary in this heavily gerrymandered Democratic district. Jim Pratt and Nancy Harrelson will compete in a run off election to determine who will lose to Congressman Jim Clyburn in November.
In other races, Curtis Loftis defeated incumbent State Treasurer Converse Chellis in the Republican primary. Leighton Lord and Alan Wilson, son of Congressman Joe Wilson, will move to a run off to determine who the next Attorney General will be. Neither the AG race nor the Treasurer race was contested by the Democrats. Ken Ard and Bill Connor will battle it out in the run off to see who the Republicans’ Lt Governor candidate will be. Mick Zais and Elizabeth Moffly will compete in a run off for the Republican State Superintendent nomination. The winner will run against Democrat Frank Holleman.
There was a big upset in the State House last night as House Speaker Pro Tem Harry Cato of the 17th House District had the smackdown laid on him by challenger Tom Corbin. Corbin received 59% of the vote so Cato is outta there! Two other Republicans in the State House also lost in their primaries. State Representatives Keith Kelly of the 35th District and Jim Stewart of the 86th were defeated by their challengers. Additionally, several other State House incumbents were forced into a run off election: Joey Millwood of the 38th District, Marion Frye of the 39th, Boyd Brown of the 41st, and Richard Chalk of the 123rd.
Finally, probably the sweetest moment of the evening was seeing York County Councilman and scoundrel extraordinaire Paul Lindemann sink faster than the Titanic. In a four way primary he managed to get less than 12% of the vote. Republicans David Bowman and Kyle Boyd will move to the run off and the winner will become the next County Councilman for the 1st District as no Democrat filed for the race.
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