Special election primary for vacant SC Senate seat goes to runoff
.jpg "Lowcountry voters will narrow the fields for the next state Senator for South Carolina’s 42nd Senate District in a special election primary runoff on September 7.")
A special election primary to fill a state Senate seat vacated by Democrat Marlon Kimpson will go to a runoff.
Voters in the Lowcountry went to the polls Tuesday as three candidates were vying for a seat in South Carolina’s Senate District 42, which serves Charleston County and a small portion of Dorchester County. State Reps. Wendell Gilliard and Deon Tedder will advance to a Sept. 19 runoff, as neither candidate secured more than 50% of the vote, while state Rep. JA Moore is now out of the contest, having finished third in the primary with nearly 15% of the vote.
Gilliard came out ahead with 46% of the vote followed by Tedder with 36%. Of the 3,978 ballots cast, only 320 votes separated Gilliard and Tedder.
The election comes as Kimpson resigned to take a job in the Biden administration.
Gilliard, 69, is a public relations consultant and was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2009, marking him as the longest-serving legislator bidding for Kimpson’s now-vacant seat.
The veteran lawmaker is known for spearheading several pieces of hate crime legislation following the 2015 shooting deaths of Walter Scott in North Charleston and nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Although Gilliard has been successful in getting the measure past the House twice, it was rejected in the Senate.
But Gilliard told The State last month that he’s confident that if elected to the Senate, he’ll be successful in helping his hate crimes bill finally clear the upper chamber.
Tedder, 33, is a trial lawyer who has served in the state House since 2021, representing North Charleston.
Although Tedder hasn’t spent as much time in the House compared to Gilliard, he said time doesn’t equate to experience.
“I don’t think that the longer you’re in the Legislature, the more experience you have, because there are some people who sit idly,” he said last month.
The 42nd district leans heavily blue and has long been represented by a Democrat in the Senate.
Only one Republican, Rosa Kay, filed to run for the vacancy. Kay will face off with the eventual Democratic nominee in the general election on Nov. 7.
This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 10:49 AM.
