Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Review Articles: South Carolina Congressional Seats

November 30, 2012

By Ballotpedia's Congressional team

MADISON, Wisconsin: South Carolina had seven U.S. House seats on the ballot in 2012. Due to population increases the state received an additional congressional seat in this year's election. The six prior incumbents all ran for and won re-election on November 6, 2012.

None of the incumbents faced any serious opposition in the general election. The newly created district was won by Tom Rice (R). The closest race was separated by 11 percentage points.

Here are the candidates who won election.

Members of the U.S. House from South Carolina -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	1	1
	Republican Party	5	6
Total		6	7

Margin of victory for winners

There were a total of 7 seats up for election in 2012 in South Carolina. The following table shows the margin of victory for each district winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the top-two vote getters. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100%.

District	Winner	Margin of Victory	Total Vote	Top Opponent
U.S. House, South Carolina District 1 General Election	Timothy Scott	26.3%	290,013	Bobbie Rose
U.S. House, South Carolina District 2 General Election	Joe Wilson	92.5%	203,718	Write-In
U.S. House, South Carolina District 3 General Election	Jeff Duncan	33.3%	254,763	Brian Doyle
U.S. House, South Carolina District 4 General Election	Trey Gowdy	31.2%	266,884	Deb Morrow
U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 General Election	Mick Mulvaney	11.1%	278,003	Joyce Knott
U.S. House, South Carolina District 6 General Election	James Clyburn	88.1%	233,615	Nammu Y Muhammad
U.S. House, South Carolina District 7 General Election	Tom Rice	11.1%	275,738	Gloria Bromell Tinubu

National picture

Both chambers of the United States Congress remain split after the November 6, 2012 election. Democrats increased their majority in the U.S. Senate while cutting into the Republicans majority in the U.S. House.

Of the 435 candidates who won election to the U.S. House, 85 of them were challengers, which represents 19.5 percent of U.S. House members. Of those 85, 50 are Democratic and 35 are Republican. A total of 27 incumbents were defeated -- 10 Democratic and 17 Republican.

2012 United States House General Election Results
Party	Total Winners	Incumbent Winners	Defeated Incumbents	Incumbent Re-Election Rate**	Non-Incumbent Winners
Democratic	201	151	10	93.8%	50
Republican	234	198	17	92.1%	35
TOTALS	435	349	27	92.8%	85
**Note: The incumbent re-election rate is calculated by dividing the total incumbents winners by the total incumbents who appeared on the general election ballot.

U.S. Senate Partisan Breakdown Party As of November 2012 After the 2012 Election      Democratic Party 51 53      Republican Party 47 45      Independent 2 2 Total 100 100

U.S. House Partisan Breakdown Party As of November 2012 After the 2012 Election      Democratic Party 193 201      Republican Party 242 234 Total 435 435

See also

• Ballotpedia:2012 general election preview articles
• November 6, 2012 election results
• Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Southeast Regional State Executive Officials
• United States Congressional election results, 2012
• United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2012
  • South Carolina's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 5th Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 6th Congressional District elections, 2012
  • South Carolina's 7th Congressional District elections, 2012
• South Carolina elections, 2012
• National contested primary average during the 2012 U.S. congressional elections