Familiar faces already are GOP favorites in key 2020 SC election, poll shows
Republicans in South Carolina’s coastal 1st District could choose a familiar face when they try to retake that U.S. House seat in 2020.
A poll conducted just days after last Tuesday’s election, won by Democrat Joe Cunningham, shows two former Republican 1st District nominees leading the field in a potential GOP primary.
Nearly one in three likely GOP primary voters — 32 percent — said they would support state Rep. Katie Arrington, R-Dorchester, the Republican nominee who narrowly lost to Cunningham a week ago.
Another 26 percent back current U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, who represents the Charleston-centered district in the U.S. House but lost to Arrington in the June GOP primary.
“Sanford has been in and out of public office for 25 years, and Arrington’s name ID remains extremely high after her failed bid for Congress,” said R.J. May, president of Ivory Tusk Consulting, which released the poll Monday.
Arrington and Sanford finished this year’s election season on bad terms. Sanford pointedly declined to endorse his primary opponent, accusing Arrington of lying about her position on offshore drilling, a hot topic in the Lowcountry district.
Arrington later blamed Sanford’s lack of support for her loss and asked his campaign donors to demand their money back.
Other leading contenders for the Republican congressional nomination in two years include: state Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort County, a former Sanford aide, at 9 percent; state Rep. Nancy Mace of Charleston County at 7 percent; state Sen. Larry Grooms of Berkeley County at 4 percent; state Rep. Weston Newton of Beaufort at 3 percent; former candidate for governor Catherine Templeton of Mount Pleasant at 3 percent; and Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls at 1 percent.
Fifteen percent said they were unsure of who they would support or their preferred candidate was not included in the poll.
Among other findings, 41 percent of likely GOP voters said support for President Donald Trump was the “most important quality” in a Republican nominee for Congress, a stance that helped Arrington unseat Sanford in the GOP primary.
Sanford had represented the district since a special election win in 2013, after formerly holding the seat from 1995 to 2001. In between, he was S.C. governor from 2003 to 2011.
Arrington was a one-term member of the S.C. House before she challenged Sanford for the GOP nomination this year.
Cunningham may not to worry just yet, however. The same poll showed 42 percent of likely GOP voters said he “deserves a chance.”
The poll was conducted with Florida-based Political Marketing International from Thursday to Saturday, after last Tuesday’s election. It reached 2,291 respondents identified as likely to vote in the 2020 GOP primary, with a margin of error of 2 percent.
This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 4:06 PM.