South Carolina 2010 Election Results

South Carolina held its general election on November 2, 2010, deciding 123 legislative seats and 8 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control. The Senate was not up for regular election this cycle.

Highlights

• Republicans kept full control of state government and swept every statewide office on the ballot, including the only one Democrats had held: superintendent of education.
• Three-term state Rep. Nikki Haley (R) became South Carolina's first woman governor and the nation's second Indian-American governor, succeeding term-limited Gov. Mark Sanford (R). She beat state Sen. Vincent Sheheen (D) by about 4.5 points, or roughly 60,000 votes, in a race Sheheen made closer than anyone expected.
• Republicans grew their House majority to 76-48 without losing a seat of their own. Rep. Dennis Moss (R), elected as a Democrat in 2008, won House District 29 unopposed as a Republican, and Republicans unseated 3 Democratic incumbents:
  • Former solicitor Tommy Pope (R) ousted Herb Kirsh (D), the House's longest-serving member, by about 31 points in House District 47.
  • Kevin Ryan (R), a 22-year-old political newcomer, beat Vida Miller (D), in office since 1996, by about 620 votes in House District 108.
  • In a three-way race for House District 115, Peter McCoy (R) beat Anne Peterson Hutto (D) by about 450 votes; Eugene Platt (G) was also on the ballot.
• Mick Zais (R) took the superintendent's office by about 8 points over Frank Holleman (D). Republicans also held the other statewide offices on the ballot, electing Alan Wilson (R) to the open attorney general's office and Ken Ard (R) as lieutenant governor.
• Voters approved all 4 constitutional amendments. Amendment 1 created a right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife. Amendment 2 guaranteed a secret ballot in union elections, one of four such measures that passed nationwide, aimed at the card check provisions of the proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act. Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 raised the state's budget reserve requirements.

Legislature

• House (124 seats): 51 D, 72 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 48 D, 75 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (46 seats): 19 D, 27 R before the election, 19 D, 27 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures