The State endorsement: Our choices in SC’s runoff elections
After issuing 25 endorsements in Lexington and Richland counties for the June 11 primary, The State Editorial Board interviewed eight more state candidates for June 25 runoff elections in districts on the periphery of either county and one of two candidates in South Carolina’s only congressional district runoff.
Below are the resulting endorsements in Republican runoffs in the western congressional district and Senate Districts 10 and 35 and Democratic runoffs in House District 93 and Senate District 35. Three of our earlier recommended candidates made runoffs of their own, and we reiterate our endorsements for Democratic Rep. Ivory Thigpen in Senate District 22 and Republicans Sen. Katrina Shealy and Jason Guerry in Senate Districts 23 and 26, respectively. Please visit thestate.com/opinion/election-endorsements to read our earlier endorsements in their entirety.
In the Third Congressional District Republican primary, The State endorses Sheri Biggs. A nurse practitioner and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, Biggs would bring actual experience to discussions in need of it: health care and the military. In an era when extremism kills compromise in and between political parties, her use of the phrase “alarmist climate change agenda” and her opposition to abortion except “when the life of the mother is in immediate and severe danger” gave us pause. That climate change is alarming should be apolitical. And no abortion exception for incest or rape? But her opponent, pastor Mark Burns, not only lacks her experience, he has misrepresented his own. He did not reply to our repeated interview requests.
In the House District 93 Democratic primary, The State endorses former Rep. Jerry Govan. He served in the Statehouse for 30 years before leaving in 2022 after his district was redrawn into one represented by Rep. Russell Ott. Govan ran for state superintendent of education, and lost, in 2014 and again in 2022. Ott’s decision to run for Senate this year left an open seat and now Govan, a former chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, and lawyer Johnny Felder, the son of a former state representative, are in the runoff. Felder would focus smartly on workforce training and the state’s teacher shortage as well as rural health care and housing, but Govan has far more experience and has demonstrated his leadership before, especially in education.
In the Senate District 10 Republican primary, The State endorses Rep. Billy Garrett. He showed us why he should keep his seat by emphasizing his budget experience, valuing transparency in an earmark process that can be abused, and demonstrating a keen understanding of the state’s complex energy situation and the need to have every stakeholder at the table to discuss it. Garrett seems both more experienced and more optimistic than his opponent, dentist Charles Bumgardner. While Bumgardner cautions against companies taking advantage of economic incentives, Garrett talks up technical and trade colleges. Those could provide many jobs in a state that could be a leader in electric vehicles and a place where visionary industries pay off.
In the Senate District 35 Democratic primary, The State endorses Jeffrey Graham. Both Graham, a former mayor and current council member in Camden who serves on the Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments, and teacher Lloyd Austin seem full of ideas. But the Senate is not a place to cut one’s political teeth, and Graham seemed better prepared than Austin in their Q&As to replace outgoing Sen. Thomas McElveen. Graham emphasized women’s rights such as comprehensive health-care access, equal pay and policies that prevent gender-based violence and discrimination. He said empowering women promotes a more equitable and thriving state for all. Austin didn’t mention women.
In the Senate District 35 Republican primary, The State endorses Lindsay Agostini. She is a two-term board member of the Richland 2 school board, which was so dysfunctional that a 2022 Inspector General investigation found collective oversight failures by “each board member.” But Agostini’s individual track record — asking questions in the public interest, demanding more time to make contract decisions and not abusing travel allowances like some colleagues — suggests her intentions were good. Some voters may appreciate Mike Jones’s Army background or that he’s a lifelong resident, but eight years with Richland 2 have shown Agostini what to do — and not do — in the Senate.