Democrats head to runoff in SC State House special election; GOP makes their pick

No Democratic nominee emerged from a special election primary contest Tuesday in the state House District 31 race. Republicans selected businessman Mike Fowler as their candidate.

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary showed that Democratic candidate Rosalyn Henderson Myers received 607 votes, or 39 percent of ballots cast, while Mo Abusaft received 505 votes, or 32.6 percent.

The two will head to a runoff Aug. 8 to decide the Democratic nominee.

“I just want to thank those who came out to support me,” Myers said. “I want to thank the many volunteers that put in a lot of hours in terms of helping me run my campaign. It says to me people went with experience and someone who can go to Columbia and make a difference.”

Myers said she will work more “vigorously” ahead of the runoff to get her message out. She also appealed to those who supported Jerome Rice and Angela Geter in the Democratic primary to back her in the runoff. Rice received 377 votes, while Geter received 59 votes, according to unofficial results.

Abusaft said he looked forward to going against Myers in the runoff and said he believed his message would resonate.

“Effectively, this is a whole new race,” Abusaft said. “I will be able to make up the small gap. It was just 102 votes.”

Abusaft said he was pleased with the primary’s results despite coming in second.

Fowler bested Richard Gosnell for the GOP nomination. Fowler won 35 votes, to Gosnell’s 12 in the heavily Democratic district.

Fowler said he wasn’t surprised by the light turnout in the Republican primary but hopes that more voters will take another look at him in September. Fowler said he believes it would be a mistake to send another representative from the Democratic Party to Columbia. Fowler also thanked his supporters.

“They voted for Mike Fowler,” he said. “They didn’t vote for a party.”

The seat has been open since former state Rep. Harold Mitchell, a Spartanburg Democrat, resigned citing health reasons.

Fowler will face the Democratic nominee in a special election on Sept. 26.