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South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2018

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General election

General election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ralph Norman
Ralph Norman (R)
 
57.0
 
141,757
Image of Archie Parnell
Archie Parnell (D)
 
41.5
 
103,129
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Michael Chandler (Constitution Party)
 
1.4
 
3,443
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
250

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 248,579
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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South Carolina's 5th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 30, 2018
Primary: June 12, 2018
Primary runoff: June 26, 2018 (if needed)
General: November 6, 2018
Pre-election incumbent:
Ralph Norman (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in South Carolina
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): R+9
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican
Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
See also
South Carolina's 5th Congressional District
1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th
South Carolina elections, 2018
U.S. Congress elections, 2018
U.S. Senate elections, 2018
U.S. House elections, 2018

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 5th Congressional District of South Carolina, held elections in 2018.

Heading into the election the incumbent was Ralph Norman (R), who was first elected in a special election on June 20, 2017.

As of the 2010 redistricting cycle, the 5th District was located in northern South Carolina, along the border of North Carolina. The district included all of Cherokee, Chester, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Union, and York counties. Portions of Newberry, Spartanburg, and Sumter counties were also within the district.[1]




Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5

Incumbent Ralph Norman defeated Archie Parnell and Michael Chandler in the general election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Ralph Norman
Ralph Norman (R)
 
57.0
 
141,757
Image of Archie Parnell
Archie Parnell (D)
 
41.5
 
103,129
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Michael Chandler (Constitution Party)
 
1.4
 
3,443
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
250

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 248,579
Candidate Connection = 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 U.S. House South Carolina District 5

Archie Parnell defeated Sidney Moore, Mark Ali, and Steve Lough in the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 12, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Archie Parnell
Archie Parnell
 
60.0
 
16,648
Image of Sidney Moore
Sidney Moore
 
17.2
 
4,766
Image of Mark Ali
Mark Ali
 
13.4
 
3,722
Image of Steve Lough
Steve Lough
 
9.5
 
2,627

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

Total votes: 27,763
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5

Incumbent Ralph Norman advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 12, 2018.

Candidate
✔
Image of Ralph Norman
Ralph Norman

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+9, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 9 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made South Carolina's 5th Congressional District the 142nd most Republican nationally.[2]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.90. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.90 points toward that party.[3]

Campaign contributions

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Ralph Norman Republican Party $2,597,132 $2,000,692 $596,440 As of December 31, 2018
Archie Parnell Democratic Party $2,039,416 $2,027,264 $12,152 As of December 31, 2018
Michael Chandler Constitution Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.


District history

2017

See also: South Carolina's 5th Congressional District special election, 2017

Republican Ralph Norman defeated Democrat Archie Parnell and three third-party candidates on June 20, 2017. The election replaced Mick Mulvaney (R), who was confirmed as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.[4] Compared to the tens of millions spent in Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election, which was held on the same day, fundraising and campaigning were more typical in South Carolina's 5th District. Norman raised $1.25 million between January and May, nearly double Parnell's $763,000 in contributions.[5]

U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 Special Election, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngRalph Norman 51% 45,076
     Democratic Archie Parnell 47.9% 42,341
     American Josh Thornton 0.4% 319
     Libertarian Victor Kocher 0.3% 273
     Green David Kulma 0.3% 242
Total Votes 88,316
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State

Ballotpedia compiled the following resources to help voters better understand the policy positions of the candidates prior to the Republican primary runoff election on May 16, 2017 and the general election on June 20, 2017, the same day as a special election runoff to fill the vacancy left by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price representing Georgia's 6th Congressional District:


Primary elections were held on May 2, 2017, for the Democratic and Republican candidates. Archie Parnell won the Democratic primary, while Ralph Norman and Tommy Pope advanced to the Republican primary runoff held on May 16, 2017.[6][7][8]

Unofficial results from May 17 showed that Norman defeated Pope by 203 votes, 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent, in the runoff to win the Republican Party's nomination.[9] Following the certification of the election results by all relevant county election boards on May 18, the results automatically triggered a recount by the state of South Carolina. The recount took place on May 19, with official results showing that former Rep. Ralph Norman defeated Rep. Tommy Pope by a margin of 221 votes.[10][11][12]

South Carolina's 5th Congressional District has become a more solid Republican district in recent elections. Mick Mulvaney (R) originally won election to the district in 2010, defeating then-incumbent John Spratt (D) by 10.4 percent. Mulvaney then won re-election in 2012, 2014, and 2016 by margins of 11.1 percent, 21.3 percent, and 20.5 percent, respectively. The presidential vote in the district has followed the same trend in the past three presidential elections. President Donald Trump (R) won the district by 18.5 percent in 2016. Mitt Romney (R) won the district by 11.5 points in 2012, and John McCain (R) won the district by 11.2 percent in 2008.[13] Filing closed in the race on March 13, 2017. Fifteen candidates filed in the race: three Democrats, seven Republicans, and five third-party candidates.

Primary results

U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 Republican Runoff Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngRalph Norman 50.3% 17,823
Tommy Pope 49.7% 17,602
Total Votes 35,425
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State


U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngTommy Pope 30.4% 11,943
Green check mark transparent.pngRalph Norman 30.1% 11,808
Tom Mullikin 19.8% 7,759
Chad Connelly 14.1% 5,546
Sheri Few 4.9% 1,930
Kris Wampler 0.5% 197
Ray Craig 0.2% 87
Total Votes 39,270
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State


U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngArchie Parnell 71.3% 13,333
Alexis Frank 21.5% 4,030
Les Murphy 7.2% 1,346
Total Votes 18,709
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State

2016

See also: South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Mick Mulvaney (R) defeated Fran Person (D) and Rudy Barnes Jr. (American) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Mulvaney defeated Ray Craig in the Republican primary, while Person ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Barnes defeated Larry Gaither at the party convention. The primary elections took place on June 14, 2016.[7][14]

U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngMick Mulvaney Incumbent 59.2% 161,669
     Democratic Fran Person 38.7% 105,772
     American Rudy Barnes Jr. 2% 5,388
     N/A Write-in 0.1% 177
Total Votes 273,006
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State


U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngMick Mulvaney Incumbent 78.3% 22,603
Ray Craig 21.7% 6,280
Total Votes 28,883
Source: South Carolina Secretary of State

2014

See also: South Carolina's 5th Congressional District elections, 2014

Incumbent Mick Mulvaney (R) won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. He defeated Tom Adams (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, South Carolina District 5 General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngMick Mulvaney Incumbent 60.6% 103,078
     Democratic Tom Adams 39.3% 66,802
     N/A Write-in 0% 82
Total Votes 169,962
Source: South Carolina State Election Commission

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Five of 46 South Carolina counties—10.9 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Barnwell County, South Carolina 5.16% 5.33% 1.65%
Calhoun County, South Carolina 2.83% 4.31% 3.55%
Chester County, South Carolina 4.83% 10.58% 8.30%
Colleton County, South Carolina 8.49% 0.19% 0.53%
McCormick County, South Carolina 3.32% 3.60% 6.08%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won South Carolina with 54.9 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 40.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, South Carolina cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 53.3 percent of the time. In that same time frame, South Carolina supported Democratic candidates for president more often than Republican candidates, 53.3 to 43.3 percent. South Carolina favored Republicans in every presidential election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in South Carolina. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns show the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns show the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[15][16]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 39 out of 124 state House districts in South Carolina with an average margin of victory of 32.8 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 38 out of 124 state House districts in South Carolina with an average margin of victory of 28.3 points. Clinton won one district controlled by a Republican heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 85 out of 124 state House districts in South Carolina with an average margin of victory of 28.7 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 86 out of 124 state House districts in South Carolina with an average margin of victory of 30.1 points. Trump won seven districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in South Carolina heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

State executives

State legislature

  • Republicans controlled both chambers of the South Carolina State Legislature. They had a 80-44 majority in the state House and a 27-19 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

2018 elections

See also: South Carolina elections, 2018

South Carolina held elections for the following positions in 2018:

Demographics

Demographic data for South Carolina
 South CarolinaU.S.
Total population:4,894,834316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):30,0613,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:67.2%73.6%
Black/African American:27.5%12.6%
Asian:1.4%5.1%
Native American:0.3%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.1%0.2%
Two or more:2%3%
Hispanic/Latino:5.3%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:85.6%86.7%
College graduation rate:25.8%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$45,483$53,889
Persons below poverty level:22%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in South Carolina.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, South Carolina's three largest cities were Charleston (pop. est. 135,000), Columbia (pop. est. 133,000), and North Charleston (pop. est. 111,000).[17]

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in South Carolina from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the South Carolina Election Commission.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in South Carolina every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), South Carolina 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2016 Republican Party Donald Trump 54.9% Democratic Party Hillary Clinton 40.7% 14.2%
2012 Republican Party Mitt Romney 54.6% Democratic Party Barack Obama 44.1% 10.5%
2008 Republican Party John McCain 53.9% Democratic Party Barack Obama 44.9% 9.0%
2004 Republican Party George W. Bush 58.0% Democratic Party John Kerry 40.9% 17.1%
2000 Republican Party George W. Bush 56.8% Democratic Party Al Gore 40.9% 15.9%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in South Carolina from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), South Carolina 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2016 Republican Party Tim Scott 60.6% Democratic Party Thomas Dixon 36.9% 23.7%
2014[18] Republican Party Tim Scott 61.1% Democratic Party Joyce Dickerson 37.1% 24.0%
2014 Republican Party Lindsey Graham 54.3% Democratic Party Brad Hutto 38.8% 15.5%
2010 Republican Party Jim DeMint 61.5% Democratic Party Alvin Greene 27.7% 33.8%
2008 Republican Party Lindsey Graham 57.5% Democratic Party Bob Conley 42.3% 15.2%
2004 Republican Party Jim DeMint 53.7% Democratic Party Inez Tenenbaum 44.1% 9.6%
2002 Republican Party Lindsey Graham 54.4% Democratic Party Alex Sanders 44.2% 10.2%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in South Carolina.

Election results (Governor), South Carolina 2000-2016
Year First-place candidate First-place candidate votes (%) Second-place candidate Second-place candidate votes (%) Margin of victory (%)
2014 Republican Party Nikki Haley 55.9% Democratic Party Vincent Sheheen 41.4% 14.5%
2010 Republican Party Nikki Haley 51.4% Democratic Party Vincent Sheheen 46.9% 4.5%
2006 Republican Party Mark Sanford 55.1% Democratic Party Kerry Healey 44.8% 10.3%
2002 Republican Party Mark Sanford 52.8% Democratic Party Jim Hodges 47.0% 5.8%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent South Carolina in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, South Carolina 2000-2016
Year Republicans Republicans (%) Democrats Democrats (%) Balance of power
2016 Republican Party 6 85.7% Democratic Party 1 14.3% R+5
2014 Republican Party 6 85.7% Democratic Party 1 14.3% R+5
2012 Republican Party 6 85.7% Democratic Party 1 14.3% R+5
2010 Republican Party 5 83.3% Democratic Party 1 16.7% R+4
2008 Republican Party 4 66.7% Democratic Party 2 33.3% R+2
2006 Republican Party 4 66.7% Democratic Party 2 33.3% R+2
2004 Republican Party 4 66.7% Democratic Party 2 33.3% R+2
2002 Republican Party 4 66.7% Democratic Party 2 33.3% R+2
2000 Republican Party 4 66.7% Democratic Party 2 33.3% R+2

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

South Carolina Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas  •  Twenty-three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ South Carolina Redistricting Map "Map" accessed July 30, 2012
  2. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  3. ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  4. ↑ ABC 7, "Donald Trump Taps Mick Mulvaney for Office of Management and Budget," December 19, 2016
  5. ↑ FEC.gov, "Norman, Ralph W. Jr.," accessed June 20, 2017
  6. ↑ South Carolina Election Commission, "U.S. House of Representatives District 5," February 16, 2017
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 South Carolina Election Commission, "Candidate Listing for the 6/20/2017 US House of Rep Dist 5 Special Election," accessed March 13, 2017 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "list" defined multiple times with different content
  8. ↑ The New York Times, "Live Election Results: South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District," May 2, 2017
  9. ↑ The New York Times, "Live Election Results: South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District," accessed May 16, 2017
  10. ↑ The State, "Norman apparent winner in tight 5th District GOP runoff," May 16, 2017
  11. ↑ The State, "Recount today in 5th District GOP race," May 19, 2017
  12. ↑ The State, "5th District recount leaves Norman the winner," May 19, 2017
  13. ↑ The Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for the 2016 and 2012 elections," accessed April 26, 2017
  14. ↑ The New York Times, "South Carolina Primary Results," June 14, 2016
  15. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  16. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
  17. ↑ South Carolina Demographics, "South Carolina Cities by Population," accessed September 5, 2018
  18. ↑ Special election
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South Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
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