Columbia-area Republicans pick nominee for SC Senate race against Harpootlian

Attorney Benjamin Dunn will be the Republican nominee to face Columbia Democrat Dick Harpootlian in November’s state Senate election, unofficial results showed Tuesday.

Dunn emerged the winner of Tuesday’s special primary runoff over minister and children’s home president John Holler. Dunn held a steady lead in the low-turnout race Tuesday night.

As the winner of the two-man runoff, Dunn now faces Harpootlian, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party, on Nov. 6.

Harpootlian has been the best-known candidate seeking the vacant Senate seat, and the multimillionaire lawyer has raised more than $140,000 for his campaign, including a $100,000 personal loan to his campaign.

Dunn has raised $13,500, most of it his own money.

The expected nominee painted the upcoming race with Harpootlian in ideological terms.

“I’m a conservative guy because conservative principles work,” Dunn said. “That’s not where Dick comes from. He’s a leftist guy, which is fine, but when you implement that stuff, it’s not helpful and it’s not going to move South Carolina forward.”

The election will fill the seat of former Sen. John Courson, a Columbia Republican who resigned in June and pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct in office related to misusing money in his campaign account.

Courson, who represented District 20 for more than 30 years, had been suspended from the Senate for more than a year prior to his resignation. The winner of November’s election will serve the last two years of Courson’s term.

The two Republicans in Tuesday’s runoff ran very different campaigns.

Dunn, who lives in Ballentine, is an attorney with the Ormond Dunn law firm. Dunn focused his campaign on conservative issues of reducing taxes, restructuring government and imposing term limits on lawmakers.

Holler is an ordained United Methodist minister who serves as president of Epworth Children’s Home in Columbia. He promised to employ his background to fix the state’s child and family services, including the understaffed, overworked Department of Social Services.

Holler could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

The district stretches from the southern neighborhoods of Columbia through downtown and up Interstate 26 to include northwestern Richland County and portions of Lexington County.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

▪ Benjamin Dunn - 65 percent

▪ John Holler - 35 percent

Source: S.C. Election Commission

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 9:18 PM.