S.C. primaries usher in black GOP legislator

By SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press Writer

Published: June 11, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ South Carolina’s primaries ushered in the first black GOP legislator since Reconstruction and the possibility of the first all-male Senate chamber since 1979.

Tim Scott, who faces no Democratic foe in November, said his outright win — capturing 53 percent of the vote in a three-way primary — reveals the “unexposed truth that Republican voters are willing to vote on issues more than the color of your skin.

“It shows the racial polarization that sometimes clouds people’s perception isn’t imbedded in the consciousness of regular Republican voters,” said Scott, who replaces retiring Rep. Tom Dantzler, R-Goose Creek.

Scott said his military ties, anti-abortion beliefs and fiscal conservatism as a small business owner attracted him to the GOP long ago.

The Charleston County Council chairman said he knows mindsets still need to be changed, but that his election shows the state is progressing. Two other black GOP candidates lost their elections, and two more who didn’t face primary opposition will be on November ballots.

Meanwhile, the Senate lost its lone woman seeking re-election, GOP Sen. Catherine Ceips of Beaufort, to the governor’s former chief of staff, Tom Davis. Ceips won the seat in a special election last June after five years in the House, doubling the number of women in the upper chamber to two.

Political scientists said Ceips’ short time in the Senate made it more difficult for her to win against a well-financed challenger endorsed by Gov. Mark Sanford and groups pushing his agenda.

“She hasn’t had a whole lot of a chance to get herself dug in,” said Francis Marion University professor Neal Thigpen.

Her loss maintains the state’s status quo of abysmal female representation, said University of South Carolina professor Blease Graham.

“It’s a shutout for women,” he said. “It harkens back to South Carolina traditions, and in that sense moves backward.”

South Carolina has for years ranked last nationwide in the percentage of women in the Legislature. Fewer than 9 percent of the state’s 170 legislators are women, compared with top-ranked Vermont at 38 percent. Palmetto State voters have never sent more than three females to the Senate at a time, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Ceips, a former Beaufort County teacher, said the lack of women legislators is discouraging to females interested in politics.

“We don’t have successful role models for these young women to look at. They don’t think they can reach,” she said, adding that legislative debates need women’s input. “Women look at things in a different perspective.”

Women could still win Senate seats. Four female Senate candidates had no primary opposition and will be on November ballots, though three face longtime incumbents. And two female Senate candidates advanced Tuesday to fight another day.

—Democrat Leah Moody, daughter of retiring Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence, is in a runoff with Rep. Creighton Coleman to replace Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester, who’s retiring after four terms.

—Former Lexington County GOP Chairwoman Katrina Shealy faces Sen. Jake Knotts, a retired law enforcement official who takes some pride in being a top target of Sanford and his outside groups.

Those races are among the 11 primary runoffs to be held June 24. Voters who went to the polls Tuesday must vote for the same party in two weeks. They can’t switch for the runoff. However, registered voters who didn’t make it to the polls Tuesday can still vote in the runoffs.

The state Election Commission will officially certify the election results and call for recounts and runoffs when it meets Friday, after counting any provisional, or challenged, ballots, which may alter vote totals. Recounts are automatic when the margin of victory is 1 percent or less. Runoffs are needed if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote.

Recounts will likely be held Monday, said Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.

Three Statehouse races feature automatic recounts.

—Democratic Rep. John Scott has a 77-vote lead over Vince Ford to replace retiring Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia.

—Joey Millwood has a 19-vote lead over incumbent Rep. Bob Walker, R-Landrum.

—Chip Stockman, the second-place finisher in a five-way primary, has a 229-vote lead over Norman Ouzts Jr. to be in a runoff for the chance to replace retiring Sen. John Drummond.