COLUMBIA, S.C. — Results of the key races in the South Carolina midterm elections are in and it was another good night for Republicans, as they once again swept all statewide races.
News19 has full South Carolina election results for the governor's race, superintendent of education, U.S. Senate, U.S. House contests, plus the statewide constitutional amendments and many more.
We’ll be posting real-time election updates as they come in this article. We’ll also have embedded updates for all key races below. In addition, we’ll have live streaming coverage here on WLTX, the News19 app, our WLTX+ app on Roku and Amazon Fire, and the WLTX YouTube page.
Live updates
12:45 a.m. - The AP projects Republican Ellen Weaver as the winner of the South Carolina Education Superintendent race
11:02 p.m.: Republican Nancy Mace has won re-election to the U.S. House in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District.
9:14 p.m.: Republican Russell Fry has won the race to the U.S. House in South Carolina's 7th Congressional District.
9:09 p.m.: The Associated Press has called the race for South Carolina's 6th Congressional District for Democratic incumbent James Clyburn.
8:54 p.m.: Republic Joe Wilson has won re-election to the U.S. House in South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District.
8:52 p.m.: Republican Ralph Norman has won re-election to the U.S. House in South Carolina's 5th Congressional District.
8:51 p.m.: Republican Henry McMaster wins reelection for governor in South Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
7 p.m.: The Associated Press has called the U.S Senate race in South Carolina for incumbent Republican Tim Scott.
South Carolina Governor Election Results
The key contest statewide was for governor as incumbent Republican Gov. Henry McMaster easily fended off a challenge by Democrat Joe Cunningham and Libertarian Bruce Reeves.
McMaster was seeking his second elected term after taking over as governor in January of 2017 when then-Gov. Nikki Haley was appointed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Assuming he completes his new four-year term, he'll be the longest-serving governor in state history at 10 years. (State law limits governors to a total of eight years in office by election.)
Cunningham is best known for winning the U.S. House District One race in 2018, flipping a seat that had been in Republican hands for over 40 years. He’d lose the seat two years later to Nancy Mace, who still represents that district.
Reeves is a former professional football player who runs a community foundation for troubled youth and also serves as a pastor.
South Carolina Education Superintendent Election Results
Republican Ellen Weaver will be the new South Carolina Education Superintendent after she defeated two candidates in a three-way contest to replace incumbent Molly Spearman as the leader of the state’s school system.
Spearman announced last year she would not seek another term after eight years in office.
The contest featured three candidates. Democrat Lisa Ellis is a high school English teacher and the founder of SCforEd, a group consisting mainly of South Carolina teachers calling for improvements in education, higher pay, and better treatment for teachers. Republican Ellen Weaver launched the Palmetto Promise Institute, a conservative think tank, and is a non-elected member of the Education Oversight Committee. Green Party candidate Patricia Mickel has been an educator for over 15 years at the high school and collegiate levels.
South Carolina U.S. Senate election results
Incumbent Republican Tim Scott easily won another term in the U.S. Senate which he claims will be his last. Scott won a commanding 62 percent of the vote as of early Wednesday morning over Democrat Krystle Matthews. Scott has served in the Senate since 2013 after previously being a member of the U.S. House. Matthews is currently a South Carolina state representative representing Berkeley and Charleston Counties.
South Carolina Constitutional Amendment results
General Reserve and Capital Reserve:
Voters easily approved two proposed amendments to the South Carolina constitution. Both dealt with setting aside state income toward essentially two “rainy day” funds.
The Capital Reserve Fund and General Reserve Fund are only used in times of budget shortfalls. The amendments call for the General Reserve to be increased from 5 to 7 percent, while the Capital Reserve would go from 2% to 3%.
In each case, voters signed off on the questions by 62 percent of the vote.
The full election results can be found here including races for the South Carolina State House, local questions, county council, city council, and school boards.