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Margie Bright Matthews
2015 - Present
2028
9
Margie Bright Matthews (Democratic Party) is a member of the South Carolina State Senate, representing District 45. She assumed office on October 27, 2015. Her current term ends on November 13, 2028.
Matthews (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the South Carolina State Senate to represent District 45. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Matthews was assigned to the following committees:
- Corrections and Penology Committee
- Fish, Game, and Forestry Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Medical Affairs Committee
- Transportation Committee
2021-2022
Matthews was assigned to the following committees:
- Corrections and Penology Committee
- Fish, Game, and Forestry Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Medical Affairs Committee
- Transportation Committee
2019-2020
Matthews was assigned to the following committees:
- Corrections and Penology Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Medical Affairs Committee
- Transportation Committee
- Family and Veterans' Services Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| South Carolina committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Corrections and Penology |
| • Fish, Game, and Forestry |
| • Judiciary |
| • Medical Affairs |
| • Transportation |
Sponsored legislation
Elections
2024
See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for South Carolina State Senate District 45
Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews won election in the general election for South Carolina State Senate District 45 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Margie Bright Matthews (D) | 97.7 | 31,710 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.3 | 746 | ||
| Total votes: 32,456 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews advanced from the Democratic primary for South Carolina State Senate District 45.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Matthews in this election.
2020
See also: South Carolina State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for South Carolina State Senate District 45
Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews defeated Rodney Buncum in the general election for South Carolina State Senate District 45 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Margie Bright Matthews (D) | 59.4 | 28,767 |
 | Rodney Buncum (R) | 40.5 | 19,608 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 47 | ||
| Total votes: 48,422 | |||
| = 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. Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews advanced from the Democratic primary for South Carolina State Senate District 45.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Rodney Buncum advanced from the Republican primary for South Carolina State Senate District 45.
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.
Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews ran unopposed in the South Carolina State Senate District 45 general election.[1][2]
| South Carolina State Senate, District 45 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Margie Bright Matthews Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 29,994 | |
| Total Votes | 29,994 | |||
| Source: South Carolina State Election Commission | ||||
Incumbent Margie Bright Matthews ran unopposed in the South Carolina State Senate District 45 Democratic primary.[3][4]
| South Carolina State Senate, District 45 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Margie Bright Matthews Incumbent (unopposed) | |
2015
A special election for the position of South Carolina State Senate District 45 was called for October 20. A primary election took place on September 1. A primary runoff election took place on September 15. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was July 13.[5]
The seat was vacant following the death of Clementa Pinckney (D) on June 17, 2015, in a mass shooting at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.[6]
Margie Bright Matthews, R. Keith Horton, Richmond Truesdale, Korey Williams, John E. Washington, Kenneth Hodges, William Bowman, Chauncey Barnwell, Sheree Darien, Libbie Henry Green and Kent Fletcher faced off in the Democratic primary. Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters, Bright Matthews and Hodges, met in a runoff election, which Bright Matthews won.[7] Alberto Fernandez was unopposed in the Republican primary. Leilani Bessinger withdrew from the race before the Republican primary.[5][8] Bright Matthews defeated Fernandez in the special election.[9]
| South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Special election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Margie Bright Matthews |
88.5% | 5,763 | |
| Republican | Alberto Fernandez | 11.5% | 750 | |
| Write-ins | Write-ins | 0% | 2 | |
| Total Votes | 6,515 | |||
| South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Democratic Runoff, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Margie Bright Matthews |
56.2% | 3,908 | |
| Democratic | Kenneth Hodges | 43.8% | 3,042 | |
| Total Votes | 6,950 | |||
| South Carolina State Senate, District 45 Democratic Primary, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|
Margie Bright Matthews (advanced to runoff) |
36.9% | 2,622 |
| Kenneth Hodges (advanced to runoff) |
34.7% | 2,467 |
| Korey Williams | 9.3% | 663 |
| Kent Fletcher | 4.4% | 316 |
| William Bowman | 4% | 288 |
| Sheree Darien | 3.6% | 253 |
| R. Keith Horton | 3.4% | 245 |
| John E. Washington | 1.4% | 99 |
| Libbie Henry Green | 1.1% | 78 |
| Chauncey Barnwell | 0.7% | 53 |
| Richmond Truesdale | 0.4% | 29 |
| Total Votes | 7,113 | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Margie Bright Matthews did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Margie Bright Matthews 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.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 9.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 11.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 12.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 13.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 14 to June 25. The state Senate reconvened September to September 3. Both chambers reconvened September 15 to September 24.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 8 through May 21.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 9 through May 10.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 10 through May 11.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 12 through June 2.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the South Carolina State Legislature was in session from January 13 through June 4.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate South Carolina State Senate District 45 |
Officeholder South Carolina State Senate District 45 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "Candidate listing for the 11/8/2016 statewide general election," accessed August 26, 2016
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "2016 Statewide General Election," accessed November 28, 2016
- ↑ South Carolina Election Commission, "Candidate Tracking," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "Unofficial primary election results," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed June 26, 2015
- ↑ NBC News, "'This Is a Hate Crime': Nine People Killed at Historic South Carolina Church," June 18, 2015
- ↑ scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary Runoff," accessed September 16, 2015
- ↑ scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary," accessed September 16, 2015
- ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed October 21, 2015
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
South Carolina State Senate District 45 2015-Present |
Succeeded by - |
