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Lee Bright

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Lee Bright
Image of Lee Bright

Candidate, South Carolina State Senate District 12

Prior offices
South Carolina State Senate District 12

Elections and appointments
Next election

October 21, 2025

Education

High school

Dorman High School, 1988

Personal
Profession
President and Founder, On Time Transportation
Contact

Lee Bright (Republican Party) is running in a special election to the South Carolina State Senate to represent District 12. He is on the ballot in the special Republican primary on October 21, 2025.[source]

Bright (Republican Party) was a member of the South Carolina State Senate, representing District 12. He assumed office in 2008. He left office in 2016.

Biography

Bright's professional experience includes owning On Time Transportation.[1]

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Bright served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Bright served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Bright served on the following committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Bright served on the following committees:

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2025

See also: South Carolina state legislative special elections, 2025

General election

The primary will occur on October 21, 2025. The general election will occur on December 23, 2025. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12

Sundra Proctor Smith is running in the special Democratic primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12 on October 21, 2025.


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Republican primary election

Special Republican primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12

Hope Blackley, Justin Bradley, and Lee Bright are running in the special Republican primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12 on October 21, 2025.


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Endorsements

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2024

See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for South Carolina State Senate District 12

Roger Nutt defeated Octavia Amaechi in the general election for South Carolina State Senate District 12 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Roger Nutt
Roger Nutt (R) Candidate Connection
 
64.0
 
36,715
Image of Octavia Amaechi
Octavia Amaechi (D)
 
35.8
 
20,545
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
70

Total votes: 57,330
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for South Carolina State Senate District 12

Roger Nutt defeated Lee Bright in the Republican primary runoff for South Carolina State Senate District 12 on June 25, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Roger Nutt
Roger Nutt Candidate Connection
 
51.2
 
3,168
Image of Lee Bright
Lee Bright
 
48.8
 
3,025

Total votes: 6,193
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Octavia Amaechi advanced from the Democratic primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12

Lee Bright and Roger Nutt advanced to a runoff. They defeated Hope Blackley and Skip Davenport in the Republican primary for South Carolina State Senate District 12 on June 11, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lee Bright
Lee Bright
 
36.5
 
4,186
Image of Roger Nutt
Roger Nutt Candidate Connection
 
23.2
 
2,656
Hope Blackley
 
22.0
 
2,520
Skip Davenport
 
18.3
 
2,091

Total votes: 11,453
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bright in this election.

2018

See also: South Carolina's 4th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House South Carolina District 4

William Timmons defeated Brandon Brown and Guy Furay in the general election for U.S. House South Carolina District 4 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of William Timmons
William Timmons (R)
 
59.6
 
145,321
Image of Brandon Brown
Brandon Brown (D)
 
36.6
 
89,182
Image of Guy Furay
Guy Furay (American Party)
 
3.8
 
9,203
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
244

Total votes: 243,950
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House South Carolina District 4

Brandon Brown defeated Lee Turner in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House South Carolina District 4 on June 26, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brandon Brown
Brandon Brown
 
62.1
 
7,097
Image of Lee Turner
Lee Turner
 
37.9
 
4,340

Total votes: 11,437
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House South Carolina District 4

William Timmons defeated Lee Bright in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House South Carolina District 4 on June 26, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of William Timmons
William Timmons
 
54.3
 
37,096
Image of Lee Bright
Lee Bright
 
45.7
 
31,236

Total votes: 68,332
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 4

Lee Turner and Brandon Brown advanced to a runoff. They defeated Eric Graben, Will Morin III, and J.T. Davis in the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 4 on June 12, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lee Turner
Lee Turner
 
29.5
 
7,070
Image of Brandon Brown
Brandon Brown
 
28.5
 
6,833
Eric Graben
 
25.7
 
6,174
Image of Will Morin III
Will Morin III Candidate Connection
 
9.1
 
2,192
Image of J.T. Davis
J.T. Davis
 
7.2
 
1,733

Total votes: 24,002
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 4

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 4 on June 12, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lee Bright
Lee Bright
 
25.0
 
16,742
Image of William Timmons
William Timmons
 
19.2
 
12,885
Image of Dan Hamilton
Dan Hamilton
 
18.6
 
12,494
Image of Josh Kimbrell
Josh Kimbrell
 
11.1
 
7,465
James Epley
 
8.0
 
5,386
Image of Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown
 
7.6
 
5,078
Image of Shannon Pierce
Shannon Pierce
 
3.6
 
2,442
Image of Mark Burns
Mark Burns
 
2.5
 
1,662
Claude Schmid
 
2.1
 
1,415
Dan Albert
 
0.8
 
510
John Marshall Mosser
 
0.7
 
457
Justin David Sanders
 
0.5
 
354
Image of Barry Bell
Barry Bell
 
0.3
 
200

Total votes: 67,090
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Bright was endorsed in the election by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).[2]

2016

See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the South Carolina State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The primary runoff election was held on June 28, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 30, 2016.

Scott Talley ran unopposed in the South Carolina State Senate District 12 general election.[3][4]

South Carolina State Senate, District 12 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Scott Talley  (unopposed) 100.00% 41,352
Total Votes 41,352
Source: South Carolina State Election Commission


Scott Talley defeated incumbent Lee Bright in the South Carolina State Senate District 12 Republican primary runoff.[5]

South Carolina State Senate, District 12 Republican Primary Runoff, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Scott Talley 51.59% 4,861
     Republican Lee Bright Incumbent 48.41% 4,562
Total Votes 9,423
Source: South Carolina State Election Commission


Incumbent Lee Bright and Scott Talley defeated David McCraw and Lisa Scott in the South Carolina State Senate District 12 Republican primary.[6][7]

South Carolina State Senate, District 12 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Lee Bright Incumbent 37.69% 3,681
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Scott Talley 26.56% 2,594
     Republican David McCraw 22.95% 2,241
     Republican Lisa Scott 12.80% 1,250
Total Votes 9,766
Source: South Carolina State Election Commission

2014

See also: United States Senate elections in South Carolina, 2014

Bright ran for the United States Senate in 2014. He is challenged Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina.[8][9][10]

He was defeated by incumbent Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary on June 10, 2014.[11]

U.S. Senate, South Carolina Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngLindsey Graham Incumbent 56.4% 178,093
Lee Bright 15.4% 48,704
Richard Cash 8.3% 26,246
Det Bowers 7.3% 23,071
Nancy Mace 6.2% 19,560
Bill Connor 5.3% 16,847
Benjamin Dunn 1% 3,195
Total Votes 315,716
Source: Results via Associated Press

AR-15 raffle

In January 2014, Bright announced via an email to supporters that he would raffle off an AR-15 gun on February 15, 2014. Bright wrote in the email:

"In the wake of the horrific tragedy in Newtown, Conn., gun-grabbers were sure they had the votes to ram gun control into law. Thanks to the action of Second Amendment supporters all over the country, their scheme failed — even despite my Republican primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham."[12]

2012

See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2012

Bright won election in the 2012 election for South Carolina State Senate District 12. Bright defeated John Hawkins in the June 12 Republican primary and defeated Henri Thompson (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[13][14][15][16]

South Carolina State Senate, District 12, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngLee Bright Incumbent 64.4% 28,724
     Democratic Henri Thompson 35.4% 15,768
     Other Write-Ins 0.2% 91
Total Votes 44,583

Note: Henri Thompson was also on the ballot as a Working Families Party candidate, and won 1,367 of his vote total on this ticket.

South Carolina State Senate District 12 Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngLee Bright Incumbent 60.6% 4,144
John Hawkins 39.4% 2,689
Total Votes 6,833

2008

See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2008

Bright won election for District 12 of the South Carolina State Senate with 30,559, ahead of all write-ins, which collectively earned 983.[17]

Bright raised $312,154 for his campaign.[18]

South Carolina State Senate, District 12
Candidates Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Lee Bright (R) 30,559
Write-ins 983

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

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2024

Lee Bright did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Lee Bright campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* South Carolina State Senate District 12Lost primary runoff$214,173 $214,173
2012South Carolina State Senate, District 12Won $214,632 N/A**
2008South Carolina State Senate, District 12Won $312,154 N/A**
2004South Carolina State Senate, District 12Lost $134,423 N/A**
Grand total$875,382 $214,173
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in South Carolina

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of South Carolina scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.










2016

In 2016, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 12 through June 2.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental and conservation issues.
Legislators are scored on business issues.
  • South Carolina Club for Growth - House and Senate 2015-16 scorecard
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills supported or opposed by the organization.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2015


2014


2013


2012


2011

The Palmetto Liberty PAC Scorecard

See also: Palmetto Liberty Political Action Committee's Legislative Scorecard (2012)

The Palmetto Liberty Political Action Committee, a conservative, pro-limited government think tank in South Carolina, releases its scorecard for South Carolina representatives and senators once a year. The scorecard gives each legislator a score based on how he or she voted in the two-year legislative term prior to the election on specific issues that the Palametto Liberty PAC thinks are anti-limited government. "Most of the votes shown on the score card are votes that we lost. Now we can identify the Legislators that caused us to lose these votes. These Legislators are the ones who need to be replaced if we are to achieve the vision of having the most free state in the nation."[22]

2012

Lee Bright received a score of 82% in the 2012 score card, ranking 1st out of all 46 South Carolina Senate members.[23] His score was followed by Senators Kevin Bryant (76%), Tom Davis (71%), and Shane R. Martin (59%).[24]

Noteworthy events

Confederate flag debate

Sen. Bright takes the floor during the Confederate flag debate.

On July 6, 2015, the South Carolina State Senate met to debate removing the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House.[25] Sen. Bright was one of the first officials to address the chamber. Instead of discussing the Confederate flag, Bright instead chose to speak to the chamber about the recent same-sex marriage decision.[25]

Bright made the following statement during the Confederate flag debate about same-sex marriage:

Members of the Senate, I heard our President sing a religious hymn and then Friday night I watched the White House be lit up in the abomination colors. It’s time. We’ve got Amazing Grace, we’ve got people in the stands here of faith. It’s time for the church to rise up. It’s time for the state of South Carolina to rise up. Romans chapter one is clear. The Bible is clear. This country was founded on Judeo Christian principles and they are under assault by the men in black robes who were not elected by you. We better make a stand. What I’d like to see is these folks that are working in the position of dealing with these marriage certificates not to have to betray their faith or have to compromise their faith in order to subject themselves to the tyranny of five judges. What we need to do is to debate this on the floor.

Our governor called us in to deal with the flag that sits out front. Let’s deal with the nation of sin that we face today. We talk about abortion but this gay marriage thing, I believe we will be one nation gone under. Like President Reagan said ‘If we’re not one nation under God, we will be one nation gone under.’ And to sanctify deviant behavior from five judges. It’s time for us to make our stand. It’s time to make our stand and we’re not doing it. We can rally together and talk about a flag all we want but the Devil is taking control of this land and we’re not stopping him. It’s time to make our stand. Let South Carolina discuss it. If the state’s got to get out of the business of marriage then let’s get out of the business of marriage because we cannot succumb to what’s to come of the future of this nation.

Now I believe that Christ teaches us to love the homosexual but He also teaches us to stand in the gap against sin and we need to make our stand. I know how people feel, of all colors, about this. I know that we need to respect our brother and love our brother but we cannot respect this sin in the state of South Carolina so I’m asking you to open up the signing dye and let’s deal with marriage. If we’re not going to find some way to push back against the Federal Government like our forefathers did or push back against a tyrannical government like the founders of this nation did, let’s at least not put these citizens of South Carolina in a position where they’ve got to choose between their faith and their jobs.[26]

Sen. Lee Bright (R)[27]

Endorsements

Presidential preference

2012

See also: Endorsements by state officials of presidential candidates in the 2012 election

Lee Bright endorsed Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential election.[28]

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Bright and his wife, Amy, have two children.[1]

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Project Vote Smart, "Lee Bright's Biography," accessed July 6, 2015
  2. Greenville News, "Sen. Ted Cruz backs Lee Bright's bid for South Carolina's 4th Congressional District seat," June 19, 2018
  3. South Carolina State Election Commission, "Candidate listing for the 11/8/2016 statewide general election," accessed August 26, 2016
  4. South Carolina State Election Commission, "2016 Statewide General Election," accessed November 28, 2016
  5. South Carolina State Election Commission, "2016 Republican and Democratic Primary Runoff," accessed June 28, 2016
  6. South Carolina Election Commission, "Candidate Tracking," accessed March 31, 2016
  7. South Carolina State Election Commission, "Unofficial primary election results," accessed June 14, 2016
  8. Politico, "Nancy Mace makes Senate run official in South Carolina," accessed August 3, 2013
  9. The State, "SC state senator taking on Graham," August 13, 2013
  10. The Associated Press, "Sen. Graham challenger kicks off campaign for GOP primary; says SC needs more conservative rep," August 13, 2013 (dead link)
  11. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ap
  12. Politico, "Lindsey Graham challenger to raffle AR-15," accessed January 24, 2014
  13. South Carolina State Election Commission, "2012 Candidates," accessed April 25, 2012
  14. South Carolina State Election Commission, "Official Primary Results," June 29, 2012
  15. AP.org, "South Carolina State Senate and State House Election Results," accessed November 7, 2012
  16. South Carolina State Election Commission, “2012 General Election – Official Results,” November 19, 2012
  17. South Carolina State Election Commission, "Official election results for 2008," accessed May 15, 2014
  18. Follow the Money, "2008 campaign contributions," accessed May 15, 2014
  19. The State, "High court rules against Haley," June 6, 2011
  20. The Sun News, "S.C. House to have special session in June," May 6, 2011
  21. The Island Packet, "S.C. Senate OKs new congressional districted anchored in Beaufort County," June 29, 2011
  22. The Palmetto Liberty Political Action Committee, "Voting Records," accessed April 11, 2014
  23. Palmetto Liberty Political Action Committee, "South Carolina Senate Score Card 2012," accessed May 15, 2014
  24. Palmetto Liberty Political Action Committee, "South Carolina Senate Score Card 2012," accessed May 15, 2014
  25. 25.0 25.1 Rawstory.com, "‘The devil is taking control': Watch SC senator derail Confederate flag debate with insane gay marriage rant," July 6, 2015
  26. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  27. foxcarolina.com, "Sen. Bright to SC senators: 'We better make a stand' against same-sex marriage ruling," July 6, 2015
  28. MSNBC, "Paul: This is a 'two-man race'," January 17, 2012

Political offices
Preceded by
-
South Carolina State Senate District 12
2008-2016
Succeeded by
-


Current members of the South Carolina State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Thomas Alexander
Majority Leader:Shane Massey
Minority Leader:Brad Hutto
Senators
District 1
District 2
Rex Rice (R)
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
Vacant
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
Ed Sutton (D)
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
Tom Young (R)
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
Tom Davis (R)
Republican Party (33)
Democratic Party (12)
Vacancies (1)