77,466 64,820 Start date May 7, 2013 | 54.04% 45.21% | |
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A special election for South Carolina's 1st congressional district was held on May 7, 2013 to fill the seat following the resignation of U.S. Representative Tim Scott, who was appointed to the United States Senate by Governor Nikki Haley to fill the seat previously held by Jim DeMint. DeMint resigned from the Senate on January 1, 2013 to accept a position as president of The Heritage Foundation.
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The filing period for candidates lasted between January 18 and January 28, 2013. The special primary elections took place on March 19, 2013. Businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch won the Democratic Party primary and Mark Sanford, the former Governor of South Carolina who held the seat from 1995 to 2001, advanced to a runoff with former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic for the Republican Party nomination. Prior to the runoff, 14 Republicans and 1 Democrat signed the "Reject the Debt" pledge put out by the nonpartisan Coalition to Reduce Spending. Curtis Bostic's refusal to sign the pledge became a campaign issue appearing in a Daily Caller editorial as well as a National Review piece authored by Deroy Murdock, which called Sanford the "taxpayer's choice" in the race. In the runoff election on April 2, Sanford defeated Bostic. Eugene Platt, a James Island Public Service Commissioner, was nominated by the South Carolina Green Party. In the general election on May 7, Sanford received 54% of the vote, beating Colbert Busch (45%) and Platt (1%).
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On the Ballot
Declared
General election
On May 7, 2013, Mark Sanford won the election and will take the seat vacated by U.S. Representative Tim Scott.