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André Bauer
Andre Bauer (Republican Party) was the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. He left office in 2011.
Bauer (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent South Carolina. He will not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 3, 2026.
Andre Bauer (R) was inaugurated as South Carolina's 87th lieutenant governor on January 15, 2003. In July 2020, President Donald Trump (R) nominated Bauer to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Belize.[1]
Bauer was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1996. In 1999, he was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in a special election. He was then re-elected in the 2000 general election and served in the state Senate until his inauguration as lieutenant governor. He defeated state Senator Phil Leventis (D) in the 2002 general election for lieutenant governor.[2]
He also ran for the Republican nomination in the 2010 gubernatorial election in South Carolina but came in fourth in the primary.[3] The race then went to a runoff between State Representative Nikki Haley and Congressman J. Gresham Barrett.
In 2012, Bauer was a Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 7th Congressional District of South Carolina.[4]
Biography
Bauer was born in Charleston on March 20, 1969. The son of William R. Bauer and Saundrea Jill Bauer, he graduated from both Irmo High School and the University of South Carolina, where he was a varsity cheerleader and a member of the Rho-Omega chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.[5]
Before his election to the South Carolina State Legislature, Bauer was a self-employed businessman in the retail sector, selling sports merchandise to national franchise stores like Walmart.[5]
Presidential endorsements
Presidential preference
2016 presidential endorsement
✓ Bauer endorsed Donald Trump for the Republican primary in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[6]
- See also: Endorsements for Donald Trump
| 2016 Presidential Endorsements by Lt. Governors | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lt. Gov. | Candidate | Date | Source |
 Spencer Cox |
Ted Cruz |
March 2016 | CNN |
| Tim Griffin |
Marco Rubio |
February 2016 | Arkansas Online |
 Ralph Northam |
Hillary Clinton |
October 2015 | Richmond Times-Dispatch |
| Henry McMaster |
Donald Trump |
January 2016 | CNN |
| Kim Guadagno |
Chris Christie |
June 2015 | NJ.com |
2012
André Bauer endorsed Newt Gingrich in the 2012 presidential election.[7]
2008
On January 17, 2008, Lt. Governor Bauer announced his support for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) with the following statement: "I, like many voters, have been previously undecided, but this election is too important to sit on the sidelines. This week, I have decided to vote for Mike Huckabee, and I urge all South Carolinians to join me in voting for Mike Huckabee this Saturday. Simply put, I believe Mike Huckabee is the best of several fine candidates to lead America. As America faced tough times, Mike Huckabee has the character, integrity, and proven leadership to ensure our greatest days are yet to come."[8]
Elections
2026
See also: United States Senate election in South Carolina, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for U.S. Senate South Carolina
The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. Senate South Carolina on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Lindsey Graham (R) | |
 | Annie Andrews (D) | |
 | Brandon Brown (D) | |
 | Catherine Fleming Bruce (D) | |
 | Kyle Freeman (D)  | |
| Christopher Giracello (D) | ||
| Lee Johnson (D) | ||
| Paul Dans (R) | ||
 | Mark Lynch (R) | |
 | Kasie Whitener (L) | |
| Jack Ellison (Independent) | ||
| Cindy Glaser (Independent) | ||
| Paul Sedletsky (Independent) | ||
| Reece Wright-McDonald (Independent) | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Andre Bauer (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2012
Bauer ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House to represent South Carolina's 7th District. Bauer defeated Jay Jordan, Randal Wallace, Dick Withington, James Mader, Chad Prosser, Katherine Jenerette, and Renee Culler in the Republican primary on June 12. He was defeated by Tom Rice (SC) in the runoff election on June 26.[9]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
 Tom Rice Incumbent |
56.1% | 16,844 |
| Andre Bauer | 43.9% | 13,173 |
| Total Votes | 30,017 | |
Effect of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in South Carolina
The 7th District was added following the results of the 2010 census. According to the Washington Post, despite Republican-controlled redistricting decisions, this district was a battleground for Democrats and Republicans seeking control of the U.S. House. With Republican front-runner Thad Viers deciding not to run and Democrat Ted Vick showing some appeal to conservatives, South Carolina's 7th was a swing district in 2012.[10]
Endorsements
- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee[11]
- Mande Wilkes, attorney, former congressional candidate[12]
Media
| "Andre Bauer in DC" |
| "Carolina This Week" |
2010
| 2010 Race for Governor - Republican Primary[13] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Nikki R. Haley (R)
|
48.9%[14] | |||
| Gresham Barrett (R) | 21.8% | |||
| Henry McMaster (R) | 16.9% | |||
| Andre Bauer (R) | 12.5% | |||
| Total votes | 422,251 | |||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Andre Bauer did not complete Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Polls
2012 election
A Francis Marion University/SCNOW.com poll, conducted May 14-15, 2012, showed Bauer with a slim lead over the rest of the candidate field.[15]
| South Carolina's Congressional District 7, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Andre Bauer (R) | Tom Rice (R) | Chad Prosser (R) | Jay Jordan (R) | Katherine Jenerette (R) | Dick Withington (R) | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | ||||||||||
| [1] (May 14-15, 2012) | 22% | 21% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 2% | 35% | +/-3.8 | 641 | ||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Florence Forum
On May 14, 2012, the 7th congressional candidates attended a forum that was followed by a post-debate poll. Then, Jay Jordan won the poll with 49% of the vote. Former Lt. Governor Andre Bauer followed with 23% and Chad Prosser came in third with 11%. Tom Rice garnered 9% of the vote and Randal Wallace ended the night with 3%.[16]
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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for "Andre + Bauer + South Carolina + House"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC4 News, "Pres. Trump nominates former SC lieutenant governor as Belize ambassador," July 18, 2020
- ↑ South Carolina Election Returns, "November 5, 2002 South Carolina State Wide General Election Official Results," accessed July 12, 2021
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "2010 Republican and Democratic Primary," June 22, 2010
- ↑ CarolinaLive.com, "André Bauer to formally announce run for Congress," accessed May 19, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 André Bauer, "About André," accessed July 12, 2021
- ↑ NBC News, "Donald Trump Touts South Carolina Endorsement," February 19, 2016
- ↑ FITSNews, "Andre Bauer Endorses Newt Gingrich," November 28, 2011
- ↑ Mike Huckabee President, "SC Lt. Gov. Endorses Mike Huckabee," January 17, 2008
- ↑ WYFF News, "2012 Primary Results," accessed July 12, 2021
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The 10 House districts that might surprise you," May 11, 2012
- ↑ Roll Call, "South Carolina: André Bauer Gets Mike Huckabee Endorsement, TV Ad," accessed June 10, 2012
- ↑ CarolinaLive.com, "Wilkes withdraws, endorses Bauer for 7th Congressional race," accessed May 23, 2012
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "2010 Republican and Democratic Primary," June 22, 2010
- ↑ Even though Nikki Haley received the most votes, she failed to receive over 50% of those votes required by South Carolina state law. A runoff election between the top-two vote recipients, therefore, was required to decide who went on to the general election.
- ↑ SCNOW.com, "Bauer, Rice lead in FMU/SCNOW.com poll," accessed May 19, 2012
- ↑ SCNOW.com, "Florence's Jordan tops poll at 7th Congressional event at West Florence High School," accessed May 31, 2012
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