Kathy Maness, Ellen Weaver headed to runoff in SC GOP education superintendent race
The two leading fundraisers in the Republican primary for state education superintendent appear headed to a runoff later this month in what likely will determine who succeeds outgoing schools chief Molly Spearman.
Kathy Maness and Ellen Weaver secured significantly more votes than the other four Republican candidates Tuesday, but neither appear likely to break the 50% threshold necessary to avoid a runoff, according to primary election returns.
With 94% of precincts reporting, Maness, a Lexington town councilwoman and executive director of South Carolina’s largest teachers advocacy group, leads all candidates with 31% of the vote. Weaver, president and CEO of the Palmetto Promise Institute, is running second with 23% of the vote.
None of the other Republican candidates have received more than 14% of the vote.
“The people chose experience, qualifications, and our vision to put students, not politics, first,” Maness said in a statement Tuesday night. “Tonight’s first place finish was a victory for the people, not the political elite.”
She and Weaver will go head-to-head for the Republican nomination on June 28. Early voting in the runoff election will be offered June 22-24.
The winner of the runoff will face either SC for Ed founder Lisa Ellis or former Anderson 4 superintendent Gary Burgess, who appear headed to a Democratic runoff, and Green Party candidate Patricia Mickel in the general election.
No Democrat has won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006 — when Jim Rex was elected state superintendent of education — so whichever candidate emerges victorious in the Republican runoff will be the heavy favorite to win the seat in November.
Weaver and Maness are both Republicans, but they come from different wings of the party and would likely take the office in different directions.
Weaver, the race’s leading fundraiser, has staked out a position to the right of Maness on a number of hot-button education issues, including vouchers, so-called critical race theory and school mask mandates.
“The contrast between my record and Kathy Maness’ is stark,” she said in a statement Tuesday night. “Runoff voters now have a clear choice: elect another Democrat-endorsed bureaucrat or choose a conservative Republican with the backbone and common sense to shake things up and deliver real results for kids.”
Weaver, a longtime aide to former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, has vowed to expand school choice for all and protect children from “woke indoctrination” in the form of critical race theory. She also rejects COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates in schools, arguing that parents and teachers have the right to make medical decisions that are right for them and their families.
Maness, who was endorsed by Spearman and has a strong base of educator support, has more in common with the current schools chief. Her top priorities are recruiting and retaining more teachers, enhancing school safety and reducing paperwork for teachers and testing requirements for students.
The former third grade teacher has voiced opposition to critical race theory and supports school choice within the public school system, but hasn’t stressed those issues on the campaign trail.
She spoke out last year in favor of repealing a one-year state law that prevented districts from imposing school mask requirements, saying masking decisions should be left to local officials.
Maness clarified Tuesday that she never supported mask mandates in schools, but simply supported local officials making decisions on mask requirements. She did, however, vote to impose a public face mask requirement as a member of Lexington town council.
The leading Republican candidates’ policy differences have created some tension between them in recent weeks, with Weaver highlighting what she called Maness’ “liberal record” while serving on the Lexington town council and running the Palmetto State Teachers Association, and Maness calling out Weaver’s “well established history of being anti-public education.”
Maness also has called attention to Weaver’s lack of an advanced degree — a statutory requirement for the job — which could keep her from taking office should she win in November without having earned the necessary credentials.
Weaver, who recently enrolled in a master’s program at Bob Jones University in Greenville, said she expects to complete the program in advance of the general election.