Sanford’s campaign war chest dwarfs challenger Horne’s

The GOP primary in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District appeared to be the most competitive congressional race in the state this year. But it doesn’t seem nearly as close if campaign reports are any indication.

Federal Election Commission filings show incumbent U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford had a campaign war chest of more than $900,000 on March 31 – more than 50 times as much as state Rep. Jenny Horne, his June primary challenger.

Horne, who gained national attention for her impassioned speech last year calling for removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, had only $16,000 on hand.

College of Charleston political scientist Gibbs Knotts sees an uphill fight for Horne when congressional races can routinely cost $1 million or more and more than 90 percent of incumbents are re-elected.

Horne, an eight-year state House veteran from Summerville, promises a competitive race in the generally Republican district reaching from Charleston southwest along the coast.

She says her campaign to date has raised more than $100,000 although conceding it is tough running against an incumbent.

“I have to go out and get money from people who know me,” she said. “Even traditional Republican donors won’t give to someone challenging an incumbent.”

Sanford raised almost $90,000 from individuals in the first quarter while Horne brought in just under $50,000.

“If all I can raise is $250,000 then I will run a campaign on $250,000,” Horne said. “I feel very confident I will be able to raise enough money.”

Horne says people are just beginning to turn their attention to the race and more money will be coming in. And she said social media can be an equalizer in a campaign.

But Knotts says it will be tough to defeat Sanford.

“He’s been voting a very conservative record that is probably consistent with folks in the district and pretty on board with the national Republican Party,” Knotts said. “Who is a Republican who has money and is going to be angry and demand a change? She’s in a little bit of a difficult position.”

Horne got into the race saying Sanford has not done much in Congress and has made a career of voting no.

She has also criticized Sanford for saying he would not support Donald Trump if he is the GOP presidential nominee. Not doing so, Horne said, would be a “slap in the face” to South Carolina voters who gave Trump a victory in the state’s February primary.

Sanford says he was expressing legitimate frustration that Trump belittles and calls his opponents names.

“It’s so foreign to my belief in the need for some sort of civility in the process notwithstanding people’s legitimate frustrations and the need for change,” Sanford said.

“I have had a lot of conversations with people in the district and they say if it comes down to Hillary or him (Trump) what are you going to do? I said I think you know what I’m going to do. I’m not going to vote for Hillary Clinton and that leaves sort of one choice,” Sanford said.

Sanford, a former two-term governor and fiscal conservative, repeatedly vetoed at the state level or voted against in Congress bills he felt were fiscally irresponsible.

Damaged by his admission of an affair as governor, Sanford made a political comeback in 2013 winning a special election for the seat he once held in the 1990s.

He defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Bush, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and had no primary or general election opposition two years ago.

A Democrat and two third-party candidates await the winner of the GOP primary in November.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Sanford’s campaign war chest dwarfs challenger Horne’s."