2 SC legislators ousted in primaries include GOP sponsor of redistricting bill

COLUMBIA — Two legislators ousted by primary challengers include the chief sponsor of last month’s push to redraw South Carolina’s congressional voting lines, while the political fates of two other incumbents remained unclear Wednesday.

In all, four House races are headed to runoffs June 23.

The chamber’s makeup received no major shakeup in Tuesday’s primaries. All 124 seats are up for election this year. But only 34 legislators — just over a quarter of the chamber — faced primary opposition toward their reelection bids. (Senators don’t face re-election until 2028.)

Six legislators — four Republicans and two Democrats — didn’t file for reelection, leaving those seats up for grabs. And two of them are seeking higher offices instead.

Rep. Jermaine Johnson, of Hopkins, won the Democratic nomination for governor in a three-way primary. And Rep. Mark Smith, of Daniel Island, advanced to a runoff in the crowded GOP fight to represent the coastal 1st District in Congress.

Freshman Republican ousted

Rep. Luke Rankin, who ran unopposed in 2024, lost his bid for a second term representing Laurens County to Republican Rick Shealy.

Rankin ended up with 40% of the votes, according to the state Election Commission’s unofficial results. With just over 5,100 votes cast, he fell more than 1,000 ballots short.

The Laurens insurance advisor was among the youngest legislators in the chamber at 28 years old. He gained notoriety as the lead sponsor of the redistricting bill that could have upended the primaries but ultimately failed in the Senate on the first day of early voting.

Effort to redraw SC voting lines fails amid record start to early voting

Rankin did not respond to a message left by the SC Daily Gazette. (He is not related to Sen. Luke Rankin of Myrtle Beach.)

“We fell short tonight, and that’s politics,” Rankin wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. But one thing I know for sure: GOD IS IN CONTROL. This result doesn’t change that. I believe He has something BIGGER and BETTER for me ahead.”

Whether the redistricting push helped or hurt Rankin’s campaign is unclear. Shealy didn’t push redistricting as a campaign issue. He thought what most resonated with voters was his experience, he told the Daily Gazette.

The 72-year-old farmer hasn’t run for public office before, but he does have decades in business under his belt, including 20 years of managing a timber farm, he said.

“Experience was a big thing,” Shealy said.

Shealy said he hadn’t committed to joining either the House’s majority GOP Caucus or the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus. Rankin’s predecessor, Stewart Jones, was a founding member of the hardline faction that split from the majority in 2022. Jones unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024.

Shealy said he’ll do whatever he feels is best for Laurens County voters if and when he gets to the Statehouse.

His biggest focus will be on trying to trim the state budget to work toward cutting taxes and repairing aging roads and bridges, he said. Both issues were recent priorities among Republicans, who lowered the state’s income tax rates this year, with a long-term goal of getting rid of the tax entirely, and passed a bill intended to speed up roadwork and allow for toll lanes to pay for it.

Shealy will face a Democrat, who ran unopposed, in November for the ruby red seat.

Decade-long incumbent Democrat loses

Rep. Michael Rivers of St. Helena Island, a Democrat first elected in 2016 to represent portions of Beaufort and Colleton counties, also lost his bid for reelection Tuesday.

Rivers received 46% of the vote, to competitor Shannon DeLoach’s 54%, according to unofficial returns.

As voters cast their ballots Tuesday, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said deputies received a report that Rivers displayed a gun outside a Green Pond polling location. DeLoach’s uncle filed the report, DeLoach said.

DeLoach and Rivers had a brief conversation outside the Green Pond Community Center around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, before Rivers got in his car, DeLoach said. DeLoach’s uncle, who was helping him greet voters, approached the car, and Rivers displayed a gun before driving off without incident, said DeLoach, who said he watched the interaction from his own car parked nearby.

DeLoach’s uncle reported the incident to the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, which referred the case to the State Law Enforcement Division because it involved a sitting representative, according to a statement from the sheriff’s department. SLED is investigating the incident, an agency spokesperson said.

Rivers, a pastor and retired Air Force member, did not respond to calls or texts from the Daily Gazette requesting comment.

DeLoach felt voters wanted a representative who was more present in the community, he said.

“Most people didn’t know who he was in his district,” DeLoach said.

DeLoach, a 41-year-old pastor and owner of two funeral homes, ran on a platform of pushing for more affordable housing and access to healthcare in rural areas.

“People want to do one thing,” DeLoach said. “They want to thrive.”

DeLoach will face a Republican, who ran unopposed, in November.

Recount and runoffs

Rep. Rob Harris, a Freedom Caucus member from Wellford, has a slight lead in the race for the Spartanburg County seat he’s held for two terms. Unofficial results show him winning by just 35 votes of about 3,560 cast.

A margin of less than 1% triggers an automatic recount.

Harris, an emergency room nurse, faced Adam Crisp, a Lyman Town Council member and vice president of a security company.

Harris is known as a staunch abortion foe, who has repeatedly proposed bans that go beyond what even anti-abortion advocates support, including criminalizing women who seek abortions. In social media posts, Crisp called himself anti-abortion as well, without specifying whether he would back similar proposals.

Neither candidate responded to calls requesting comment. Both said on social media they would wait to make an official announcement about the race’s results until they had an official tally.

Also still up in the air is an Anderson County race between GOP Rep. Don Chapman and challenger Sherry Hodges, an executive member of the Anderson County Republican Party.

Because neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in a three-way race, voters will decide between the two June 23.

Chapman had a lead in the race, with 45% of the vote to Hodges’ 43%. Patrick Orr, an information technology professional, received 13%, according to unofficial returns.

Two races to replace representatives who didn’t seek reelection will also go to runoffs.

Voters in the Lowcountry will decide between Berkeley County Councilman Jarrod Brooks and Summerville realtor Kristy Gore to replace outgoing Smith.

A race between candidates Hunter Hackett and Scotty Whetstone, vying to replace Freedom Caucus Rep. Ryan McCabe in the Midlands, will be back on the ballot June 23 as well.