2020 United States Senate election in South Carolina

The 2020 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Carolina, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Republican Senator Lindsey Graham won re-election for a fourth term and defeated Democratic nominee Jaime Harrison. Bill Bledsoe was also on the ballot, representing the Constitution Party. The primary elections were held on June 9, 2020.

Despite forecasting throughout the last few months of the race showing a very close race as well as Harrison having record fundraising numbers, Graham defeated Harrison by 54.4% to 44.2% and a margin of 10.2% in the November 3, 2020 general election. Harrison slightly outperformed Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the concurrent presidential election, who lost to President Donald Trump by 11.7% in South Carolina. The election coincidentally saw Graham and his Democratic opponent win approximately the same percentage points as in the 2002 senate race, in which Graham won his first term.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Lindsey Graham, incumbent U.S. senator

Eliminated in primary

• Dwayne “Duke” Buckner, attorney and Owner of Buckner Law Firm located in Walterboro
• Michael J. LaPierre, businessman
• Joe Reynolds, Chief Engineer in the U.S. Merchant Marine

Withdrew

• Johnny Garcia, Air Force veteran
• Peggy Kandies, Charleston art teacher, home decorator, and former IBM employee
• Mark Sloan, Greer minister and manufacturing executive
• David Weikle, radio host, U.S. Marine veteran, and candidate for the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2018 (switched to the Libertarian primary)

Declined

• Eric Bolling, former Fox News host
• Mark Burns, Easley pastor and former candidate for South Carolina's 4th congressional district in 2018
• Harlan Hill, Republican (formerly Democratic) political consultant and commentator
• John Warren, Greenville businessman and candidate for Governor of South Carolina in 2018
• Carey Wilson

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Jaime Harrison, former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party and associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee

Withdrawn

• Gloria Bromell Tinubu, former Georgia state representative, candidate for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 2018, and nominee for South Carolina's 7th congressional district in 2012 and 2014 (endorsed Jaime Harrison)
• William Stone, legal researcher
• Justin Wooton, activist

Declined

• Mandy Powers Norrell, state representative and candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018 (running for reelection)
• Bakari Sellers, political commentator and former state representative

Endorsements

Other candidates

Libertarian Party

General Election write-in candidate

• Keenan Wallace Dunham, chair of the Horry County Libertarian Party

Withdrawn

• David Weikle, radio show host, U.S. marine veteran, and candidate for the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2018 (remained on ballot)

Constitution Party

• Bill Bledsoe, Libertarian Party and Constitution Party nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2016 (unofficially withdrew on October 1, 2020, and endorsed Graham, but still remained on the ballot as an active candidate)

Independents

Withdrawn

• Lloyd Williams

General election

Predictions

Advertisements

Jaime Harrison ran a number of ads attempting to attract conservative voters from Lindsey Graham by elevating Constitution Party candidate Bill Bledsoe as "too conservative—but in doing so, the would-be attack ad offers up right-wing voters a laundry list of things to like about him". Bledsoe endorsed Graham after withdrawing from the race, but his name remained on the ballot. He criticized the ads as fraudulent.

Meanwhile, Graham ran ads attempting to brand Harrison as a diehard liberal while connecting him with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Fundraising

In the first quarter of 2020, Harrison outraised Graham, $7.3 million to $5.5 million, but Graham had the lead in cash on hand, with $12 million compared with Harrison's $8 million.

In the third quarter of 2020, Harrison raised $57 million, the largest quarterly total by a U.S. Senate candidate ever, breaking Beto O'Rourke's record in the 2018 Texas election. He has also raised the most ever by a U.S. Senate candidate, beating another of O'Rourke's records.

Debates

Results

See also

• 2020 South Carolina elections

Notes

Partisan clients

Voter samples

References

Further reading

• Amber Phillips (October 9, 2020), "The Senate seats most likely to flip parties in November", Washingtonpost.com

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "South Carolina", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "South Carolina: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of South Carolina". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• South Carolina at Ballotpedia

Official campaign websites

• Keenan Wallace Dunham (L) for Senate Archived December 15, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
• Lindsey Graham (R) for Senate
• Jaime Harrison (D) for Senate