Trump looms large in the Palmetto State

Editor’s note: This report was updated Nov. 1.

STATE STATS

Voter makeup: More than 3.3 million residents were registered to vote as of Oct. 1, according to the South Carolina State Election Commission. Voters do not register with a party but instead select a party for which they would like to vote during primary elections. The state has voted for the Republican presidential candidate every year since it supported Barry Goldwater in 1964, except in 1976 when voters backed Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Voting: Voters must register at least 30 days before the election. State law permits absentee, or mail-in, voting only for voters who meet specific requirements, such as residents over age 65, military members, or people who are unable to vote in person due to disability, working during voting hours, or being outside their county of residence during voting hours. An absentee ballot must be postmarked no later than one week before election day. A valid photo ID is required to vote.

PRESIDENTIAL

Former President Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in South Carolina by a vote of 55.1 percent to 43.4 percent in 2020. With its nine electoral votes, South Carolina is not considered a swing state this year.

President Joe Biden received 126,321 votes in the February Democratic primary, winning 96.2 percent of the vote. South Carolina was the official first state in the Democrat’s new primary calendar, after the Democratic National Committee last year shifted the state election ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. Those states had been the first to vote in Democratic primaries for decades. After Biden suspended his reelection campaign, all 65 of South Carolina’s delegates backed Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention.

On Feb. 24, Trump secured 47 delegates when he won 59.8 percent of the primary vote. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley garnered 39.5 percent. Haley suspended her campaign the day after Super Tuesday in March.

U.S. HOUSE

Republicans hold all but one of South Carolina’s seven U.S. House seats, all of which are up for election this cycle. Every incumbent is running for reelection except 3rd District Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan, who decided to retire after serving seven terms. November’s election is unlikely to change the balance.

• The race to be the Republican nominee for the 3rd District went to a runoff election on June 25 after candidates Sheri Biggs, 54, and Mark Burns, 44, failed to secure a majority of the vote in the initial primary. Biggs, a nurse practitioner and Air National Guard officer, won a slim victory over Burns, a pastor and co-founder of the Christian NOW Television Network. Former President Donald Trump backed Burns in the race, while South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster supported Biggs.

• Incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace, 46, won the Republican primary for the 1st District after receiving an endorsement from Trump. She had previously criticized Trump and notably joined other House members last year to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The former speaker’s political action committee donated heavily to primary candidate Catherine Templeton’s campaign.

The U.S. Supreme Court in May threw out a federal district court ruling that the state racially gerrymandered District 1. Justice Samuel Alito rejected the lower court’s decision that the state’s legislature had relied too heavily on race when drawing the district.

Dig deeper:

• Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about how South Carolina voters were divided ahead of the Republican primary that pitted former Gov. Nikki Haley against former President Donald Trump.

• In The Sift, Christina Grube reported on a proposed South Carolina bill that would have the state compensate women who were prevented from receiving abortions by the state’s heartbeat law.

• Christina Grube and Stephen Kloosterman wrote about South Carolina’s Supreme Court reinstating a law to protect the unborn.

• Carolina Lumetta covered Trump’s rally in South Carolina ahead of the primaries.

Visit the WORLD Election Center 2024 to follow our state-by-state coverage between now and November.