Candidates on South Carolina ballot

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Contests for governor and the U.S. Senate are the marquee races in South Carolina’s primaries upcoming 7 days, but a lot of candidates are also competing for seats in Congress and for the statewide roles of instruction superintendent, lawyer general and agriculture commissioner.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rice faces a fifty percent-dozen Republican challengers as he seeks the nomination for his sixth term. The race in the 7th District, which is anchored by Florence and Myrtle Seashore, became crowded immediately after Rice was one particular 10 House Republicans to help the next impeachment hard work against then-President Donald Trump.

Rice’s best opponent, condition Rep. Russell Fry, has been endorsed by Trump. Democratic prospect and Army veteran Daryl Scott has no challengers in the main.

Yet another incumbent facing a intense fight is Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, whose 1st District operates from Charleston to Hilton Head Island.

Mace is going through Katie Arrington, who won the Republican nomination in 2018 but misplaced in the typical election to a person-phrase Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham. Mace defeated Cunningham in 2020. Dr. Annie Andrews is the only Democrat running this yr.

In the 4th District, Republican U.S. Rep. William Timmons is dealing with a few challengers. Timmons is amid the Republican congressmen who voted towards certifying the 2020 presidential election results for Joe Biden and he has obtained an endorsement from Trump. But his opponents contend he is not conservative ample.

Trump selected Timmons above Mark Burns, a pastor who invested two several years likely to rallies to talk on Trump’s behalf. The other two candidates competing versus Timmons are George Abuzeid, a previous adviser to the congressman, and retired businessman Michael LaPierre.

The lone Democrat in the race is Ken Hill, a nuclear power plant good quality regulate inspector for the congressional district, which is anchored by Greenville and Spartanburg.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s only Democrat in Congress, is struggling with two challengers as he seeks a 16th term in the 6th District, the state’s only the greater part minority district, which extends from Columbia to Charleston.

Clyburn, whose endorsement of Biden is extensively found as the defining aspect that led to the existing president’s victory in the 2020 Democratic main, faces chiropractor and insurance coverage adjuster Michael Addison and constitution college instructor Gregg Marcel Dixon.

On the Republican side, lawyer Duke Buckner and guide A. Sonia Morris are searching for the nomination.

In the 5th District, which operates from Rock Hill to Sumter, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman has no challengers in the most important. In November, he’ll deal with one of two Democrats at present vying for their party’s nomination: Kevin Eckert, a group organizer and technician, and builder and genuine estate agent Evangeline Hundley. Norman has been in Congress since 2017.

In the 2nd District, which contains the western suburbs of Columbia and Aiken, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson has no key opposition for the seat he has represented given that 2001. His Democratic opponent in November is Judd Larkins, who describes himself on his marketing campaign internet site as a “husband, a pet dog dad, a company proprietor, a school soccer enthusiast and a South Carolina indigenous.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan is unopposed in the major and general election as he seeks a seventh expression in the 3rd District, which handles the northwest component of South Carolina.

In addition to the congressional races, Republican incumbents in a few statewide workplaces confront main issues: the legal professional common, secretary of condition and agriculture commissioner.

Lawyer Common Alan Wilson is looking for a fourth term. He is challenged by lawyer Lauren Martel, who claimed Wilson does far more conversing than combating for conservative positions such as protecting Confederate monuments or combating COVID-19 vaccine mandates. No Democrats have entered the race.

Secretary of Condition Mark Hammond is staying challenged in the Republican major by Keith Blanford, who needs to acquire the function of overseeing elections absent from a board appointed by the governor and give it to the Secretary of State’s Place of work.

A invoice that would make that changeover was proposed in the Common Assembly this 12 months but never obtained a hearing. The Republican-dominated Legislature did overhaul election regulations to allow early voting.

The winner of the Republican key will experience Democrat Rosemounda Peggy Butler in the slide.

Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers has two opponents for the Republican nomination: Spartanburg County Soil and Water Commissioner Invoice Bledsole and Bob Rozier, who functions in the farming sector.

The winner will confront David Edmond of the Environmentally friendly Celebration and Chris Nelums of the United Citizens Get together. If Bledsoe loses the Republican principal, he will run in the normal election underneath the Constitutional Get together. This is the past yr that point out regulation enables candidates to run for a lot more than just one social gathering.

Both equally functions have crowded fields immediately after Republican Schooling Superintendent Molly Spearman determined not to run again following 8 several years in the occupation.

Spearman from time to time disagreed with other Republican leaders, primarily on concerns this kind of as whether nearby districts really should be capable to mandate masks to secure towards COVID-19. That schism has continued into the Republican principal.

Spearman endorsed Kathy Maness, who is govt director of the Palmetto Point out Lecturers Affiliation. Spearman says Maness has been a instructor and appreciates each the legislative procedure and how schools work.

Several other Republican leaders have endorsed Ellen Weaver, the CEO of conservative believe tank Palmetto Guarantee Institute and chairwoman of the condition Schooling Oversight Committee. She also has the backing of previous state education superintendents Barbara Nielsen and Mick Zais.

Weaver has raised additional than $325,000, an sum not matched by any other applicant. Travis Bedson, who owns a basis restore business, has lifted about $280,000, with most of that income coming from a $250,000 bank loan he manufactured to his marketing campaign, in accordance to campaign finance stories. Bedson suggests South Carolina community educational institutions require a business enterprise frame of mind to operate superior.

Maness has raised about $115,000.

Weaver and Bedson encounter a different hurdle: Neither of them has the master’s degree that South Carolina law now demands of a superintendent. Maness does. Both equally Weaver and Bedson say they are operating on the advanced degree, but election officials mentioned there is no precedent for what comes about if 1 of them wins in November with out it.

Other Republicans operating are Florence University District 1 Board Member Bryan Chapman, Greenville County College Board member Lynda Leventis-Wells and Lexington elementary college instructor Kizzi Gibson.

Competing for the Democratic nomination are point out Rep. Jerry Govan, former Anderson County College District 4 Superintendent Gary Burgess and Lisa Ellis, founder of the instructor advocate team SC for Ed.