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Ellen Weaver
Ellen Weaver (Republican Party) is the South Carolina Superintendent of Education. She assumed office on January 11, 2023. Her current term ends on January 13, 2027.
Weaver (Republican Party) ran for election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Weaver completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ellen Weaver was born in Greenville, South Carolina. Weaver earned a bachelor's degree from Bob Jones University in 2001.[1] Her career experience includes working as the president and CEO of the Palmetto Promise Institute and a state director with the United States Senate. Weaver has served on the board of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.[2]
Elections
2022
See also: South Carolina Superintendent of Education election, 2022
General election
General election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Ellen Weaver defeated Lisa Ellis and Patricia Mickel in the general election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ellen Weaver (R)  | 55.5 | 937,493 |
 | Lisa Ellis (D / Alliance Party) | 42.8 | 722,013 | |
| Patricia Mickel (G) | 1.6 | 27,468 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1,744 | ||
| Total votes: 1,688,718 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Ellen Weaver defeated Kathy Maness in the Republican primary runoff for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ellen Weaver | 63.9 | 111,643 |
| Kathy Maness | 36.1 | 63,080 | ||
| Total votes: 174,723 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Lisa Ellis defeated Gary Burgess and Jerry Govan Jr. in the Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 14, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lisa Ellis | 50.1 | 87,529 |
 | Gary Burgess | 31.2 | 54,464 | |
 | Jerry Govan Jr. | 18.7 | 32,665 | |
| Total votes: 174,658 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 14, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Kathy Maness | 30.6 | 103,608 | |
| ✔ | | Ellen Weaver | 23.3 | 79,077 |
| Travis Bedson | 13.9 | 47,241 | ||
| Bryan Chapman | 12.5 | 42,498 | ||
 | Kizzi Gibson | 11.1 | 37,743 | |
 | Lynda Leventis-Wells | 8.5 | 28,755 | |
| Total votes: 338,922 | |||
| = 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
- Cindy Bohn Coats (R)
- Sheri Few (R)
Alliance Party convention
Alliance Party convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Lisa Ellis advanced from the Alliance Party convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Lisa Ellis (Alliance Party) |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Green convention
Green convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Patricia Mickel advanced from the Green convention for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on May 7, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Patricia Mickel (G) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Weaver's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ellen Weaver completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Weaver's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I was blessed with opportunities to attend a variety of schools, including homeschooling for several years. Learning from home provided me the incredible opportunity to work in the afternoons with Dad in his small residential construction business. I also witnessed the power of a great teacher on a student’s life. I graduated from my local public school and was shaped there by the leadership of an incredible principal and some terrific teachers. After graduating from Bob Jones University in Greenville, I went to work for U.S. Senator Jim DeMint. During the next 12 years, I learned by example the value of standing strong for common-sense principles and conservative values.
In 2013, alongside Senator DeMint, we launched Palmetto Promise Institute, where I worked every day to improve the lives of South Carolinians by fighting for smaller government, less regulation, and conservative policies. I served on South Carolina’s Education Oversight Commission.- We must focus on foundational skills. Too many students are behind in basic math and reading skills. This is an urgent situation. We must prioritize these foundational skills which children need to be successful in other vitally important subject areas like history, the sciences, and the arts. This means a strong focus on phonics and knowledge-building—the proven science of reading—especially in the early grades.
- We've got to restore classroom discipline. Unfortunately, Washington bureaucrats have far too much say in our discipline practices, which means that our teachers aren’t allowed to maintain control over their own classrooms. South Carolina must intentionally cultivate, coach, and empower teachers to be the CEOs of their classrooms and principals to be CEO’s of their schools. We must also give teachers a safe, anonymous way to speak out about issues in their classrooms: teachers must be heard.
- It's time to expand education choices. Whether it’s traditional public, public charter or magnet, private, home school, or any of the growing array of high-quality hybrid options, we must ensure that parents of every income level can choose the right environment to support the safety, well-being, values, and unique educational needs of their child.
My plan for educational excellence in South Carolina is built on three important principles:
Flexibility
Equip students to pursue their unique needs and personal goals, empower parents to exercise their God-given rights, cut red tape to allow educators to do their jobs effectively, and keep decision-making authority as close to the student as possible.
Responsibility
Deliver a high-quality education for every child. Maintain a laser focus on academic outcomes that are measured in a fair and transparent way, as well as total financial transparency so that taxpayers know their money is actually being spent.
Fairness
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
| South Carolina | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
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Candidate South Carolina Superintendent of Education |
Officeholder South Carolina Superintendent of Education |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 1, 2022
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Ellen Weaver," accessed December 7, 2022
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Molly Mitchell Spearman (R) |
South Carolina Superintendent of Education 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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State of South Carolina Columbia (capital) |
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