John Lastinger
John Lastinger (Republican Party) is a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 88. He assumed office on December 23, 2025. His current term ends on November 9, 2026.
Lastinger (Republican Party) ran in a special election to the South Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 88. He won in the special general election on December 23, 2025.
Lastinger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
John Lastinger was born in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from Lexington High School. He earned an associate degree from Midlands Technical College in 1974 and an associate degree from the Gloryland Bible Institute in 1978. His career experience includes working as a minister. He has been affiliated with the Lexington County GOP and GoStrategic.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: South Carolina state legislative special elections, 2025
General election
Special general election for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88
John Lastinger defeated J. Chuck Hightower in the special general election for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on December 23, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | John Lastinger (R)  | 62.3 | 1,672 |
| J. Chuck Hightower (D) | 37.6 | 1,010 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 2,683 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Special Republican primary runoff for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88
John Lastinger defeated Brian Duncan in the special Republican primary runoff for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Lastinger | 52.4 | 1,370 |
| Brian Duncan | 47.6 | 1,243 | ||
| Total votes: 2,613 | |||
| = 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
The Democratic primary election was canceled. J. Chuck Hightower advanced from the special Democratic primary for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88.
Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88
John Lastinger and Brian Duncan advanced to a runoff. They defeated Lorelei Graye and Darren Rogers Sr. in the special Republican primary for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on October 21, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Lastinger | 40.1 | 596 |
| ✔ | Brian Duncan | 38.0 | 565 | |
| Lorelei Graye | 15.1 | 225 | ||
| Darren Rogers Sr. | 6.9 | 102 | ||
| Total votes: 1,488 | |||
| = 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
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Lastinger in this election.
2020
See also: South Carolina House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88
RJ May won election in the general election for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | RJ May (R) | 97.1 | 14,962 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.9 | 452 | ||
| Total votes: 15,414 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 88
RJ May defeated Michael Sturkie in the Republican primary runoff for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on June 23, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | RJ May | 53.2 | 1,378 |
| Michael Sturkie | 46.8 | 1,210 | ||
| Total votes: 2,588 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 88
Michael Sturkie and RJ May advanced to a runoff. They defeated John Lastinger, Brian Duncan, and Eddie McCain in the Republican primary for South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Michael Sturkie | 34.6 | 1,788 | |
| ✔ | | RJ May | 24.5 | 1,268 |
| John Lastinger | 17.2 | 888 | |
| Brian Duncan | 13.9 | 720 | ||
 | Eddie McCain | 9.8 | 504 | |
| Total votes: 5,168 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Lastinger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lastinger's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- We need to get back to the Biblical roots of our country.
- Quality education should teach basics and not ideology. Our students are being disassociated with our roots, and our history is being rewritten.
- Our state and district have seen a lot of growth and it's expected to continue. Our government representatives need to be more proactive in ensuring we have the proper infrastructure.
The legislators should help come up with answers and solutions that can be presented to the governor for his approval.
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.
2020
John Lastinger did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 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.
Scorecards
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.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 27, 2025
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by RJ May (R) |
South Carolina House of Representatives District 88 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
