2010 South Carolina elections

← 2008 November 2, 2010 2012 →

Elections in South Carolina
Federal government U.S. President 1788-89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 Rep 2004 Dem 2008 Dem Rep 2012 Rep 2016 Dem 2020 Dem 2024 Dem Rep U.S. Senate 1897 sp 1898 1902 1903 1907 1908 1909 1913 1914 1918 sp 1918 1920 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 sp 1941 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 sp 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 sp 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 2028 U.S. House of Representatives 1788 1790 1793 1794 1796 1798 1800 1803 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820 1823 1824 1826 1828 1830 1833 1834 1836 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1848 1850 1853 1854 1856 1858 1860 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 7th 1901 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 4th 1915 1916 1918 6th 1919 7th 1919 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 4th 1953 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1st 1971 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2nd 2001 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 1st 2013 2014 2016 5th 2017 2018 2020 2022 2024 List of specials
State offices General elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2018 2020 2022 Gubernatorial elections 1865 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 State Senate elections 2008 2016 2020 2024 State House elections 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures 2006 Amendment 1 2008 2010 2012 2014
Charleston Mayoral elections 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
v t e

Elections were held in South Carolina on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Primary elections were held on June 8, 2010, and a run-off election for certain contests was held on June 22, 2010.

Federal

United States Senate

Republican incumbent Jim DeMint was seeking re-election to the United States Senate, facing Democratic contender Alvin Greene and Green Party candidate Tom Clements.

United States House

All six of South Carolina's seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 2010.

State

Governor

Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Sanford was term-limited and unable to seek re-election. Republican Nikki Haley and Democrat Vincent Sheheen, along with third-party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves, contested the seat. The gubernatorial race was one of the closest in the state, as well as the country, despite the Republican wave on both the state and national level that year. Haley gained national attention as the first non-white and first woman Republican nominee for governor in South Carolina, and for her associations with the national Tea Party and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who endorsed her in the primary. Haley eventually won the race.

Lieutenant governor

Republican Ken Ard and Democrat Ashley Cooper were the major party nominees for lieutenant governor. Incumbent Andre Bauer decided not to run for re-election in order to run for governor. He came in fourth in the GOP primary. Ard won the general election. A little over a year after being sworn in, he resigned after being indicted for misappropriation of campaign funds for personal expenses.

Ard, a businessman and Florence County Councilman, won a four-way primary after a run-off with Bill Connor, a veteran and attorney in Orangeburg. Other candidates were Larry Richter, a former state judge and former state Senator from Mount Pleasant, and Eleanor Kitzman, former director of the state Department of Insurance.

Secretary of State

Republican Mark Hammond ran for re-election as Secretary of State of South Carolina against Democrat Marjorie Johnson, a retired spokeswoman for a Washington, D.C. municipal sanitation corporation. Neither faced primary opposition.

Treasurer

Republican Curtis Loftis ran unopposed for the office of Treasurer of South Carolina. He defeated acting Treasurer Converse Chellis in the Republican primary. Chellis was appointed to the position by Governor Sanford after his predecessor, Thomas Ravenel, was convicted of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and resigned. Loftis, the Director of Transparency at the Office of the Comptroller General, received some negative coverage when Chellis ran negative ads attacking him for having been arrested for assaulting his wife. (Loftis was later found not guilty.)

Attorney general

2010 South Carolina Attorney General election

← 2006 2014 →

Nominee Alan Wilson Matthew Richardson Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 716,193 589,135 Percentage 53.7% 44.2%

County results Wilson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Richardson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Attorney General before election Alan Wilson Republican Elected Attorney General Alan Wilson Republican

Republican Alan Wilson, Democrat Matthew Richardson, and Green Party candidate Leslie Wilson were the nominees for attorney general. Wilson is the son of controversial South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson. The race was marked by high fundraising totals for both Wilson and Richardson, second only to the governor's race in total money raised and spent in the general election. Wilson eventually won.

In the Republican primary, Wilson faced two other challengers: Columbia attorneys Leighton Lord and Robert Bolchoz. Wilson eventually defeated Leighton Lord in a run-off.

Comptroller General

Incumbent Republican Richard Eckstrom ran for re-election against Democratic challenger Robert Barber. Although Eckstrom attracted negative attention over his affair with Kelly Payne,^[3] one of the GOP candidates for Superintendent of Education, he eventually won.

In the Republican primary, Eckstrom defeated challenger Mike Meilinger, an accountant and consultant from Greenville.

Superintendent of Education

Candidates for Superintendent of Education in South Carolina included Republican Mick Zais, Democrat Frank Holleman, and third-party candidates Doretha Bull, Tony Fayyazi, and Tim Moultrie. Zais did little campaigning in the general, despite the relatively high fundraising totals posted by Holleman, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Education and South Carolina State Democratic Party Chairman. The general election race became the third most expensive statewide race in South Carolina in 2010, and one of the higher profile, in part because the perception that the outcome could be as close as it had been in 2006. However, Zais eventually won.

Zais, a retired brigadier general and president of Newberry College, defeated Elizabeth Moffly in the GOP primary run-off. Moffly, a 2006 candidate for the Republican nomination, did surprisingly well considering her low fundraising and poor result in the 2006 contest. Other candidates included: Kelly Payne, an Irmo teacher; Gary Burgess, a former Laurens County school administrator who was arrested in 2009 for soliciting an immoral act;^[4] Brent Nelsen, a political science professor at Furman University; and Glenn Price, a Kershaw band teacher. Moffly went on to be elected to the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees in November.^[5]

Holleman defeated college administrator Tom Thompson in the Democratic primary.

Adjutant General

Republican Bob Livingston ran unopposed in the general election and faced no primary opposition.

Commissioner of Agriculture

Incumbent Republican Hugh Weathers ran for re-election against Democratic challenger Tom Elliott, a former Richland County treasurer and councilman. Neither faced primary opposition. The major issue in the race was the moving of the state farmers' market, which Elliott suggested had been done improperly.^[7]

State House of Representatives

All 124 seats in the South Carolina House of Representatives were up for election in 2010.

Judicial positions

Several Probate Court justices were up for election in 2010. Most other judges are elected by the South Carolina General Assembly instead of by the general population.

• South Carolina judicial elections, 2010 at Judgepedia

Ballot measures

Four measures appeared on the General Election ballot.

Amendment 1 amended Article I of the state Constitution to guarantee citizens the right to hunt, fish and trap wildlife, "subject to laws and regulations promoting sound wildlife conservation and management as prescribed by the General Assembly."

Amendment 1

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	1,126,228	88.97
No	139,668	11.03
Total votes	1,265,896	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	2,631,459	48.11
Source: - Official Results

Amendment 2 amended Article II of the state Constitution "to provide that the fundamental right of an individual to vote by secret ballot is guaranteed for a designation, a selection, or an authorization for employee representation by a labor organization."

Amendment 2

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	1,090,107	86.20
No	174,473	13.80
Total votes	1,264,580	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	2,631,459	48.06
Source: - Official Results

Amendment 3 amended Section 36(A) of Article III of the state Constitution "to increase from three to five percent in increments of one-half of one percent over four fiscal years the amount of state general fund revenue in the latest completed fiscal year required to be held in the General Reserve Fund."

Amendment 3

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	890,015	70.91
No	365,105	29.09
Total votes	1,255,120	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	2,631,459	47.70
Source: - Official Results

Amendment 4 amended Section 36(A) of Article III of the state Constitution " to increase from three to five percent in increments of one-half of one percent over four fiscal years the amount of state general fund revenue in the latest completed fiscal year required to be held in the General Reserve Fund and to allow the percentage amount to be subsequently increased or decreased by separate legislative enactment passed by a two-thirds vote of the total membership of the Senate and a two-thirds vote of the total membership of the House of Representatives."

Amendment 4

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	906,328	72.61
No	341,893	27.39
Total votes	1,248,221	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	2,631,459	47.43
Source: - Official Results

Local

Many elections for county and city offices were also held on November 2, 2010.