South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2026

← 2024
South Carolina's 5th Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 30, 2026
Primary: June 9, 2026 Primary runoff: June 23, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in South Carolina
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending 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, 2026
See also
South Carolina's 5th Congressional District U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th South Carolina elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 5th Congressional District of South Carolina, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. The primary is June 9, 2026, and a primary runoff is June 23, 2026. The filing deadline is March 30, 2026.

This is one of 51 open races for the U.S. House of Representatives this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, 21 Democrats and 30 Republicans are not running for re-election. In 2024, 45 incumbents — 24 Democrats and 21 Republicans — did not seek re-election.

The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 120th Congress. All 435 U.S. House districts are up for election.

Currently, Republicans have a 218-214 majority with three vacancies in the chamber. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here. For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

• South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2026 (June 9 Democratic primary)
• South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2026 (June 9 Republican primary)

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

General election

The primary will occur on June 9, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

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

Andrew Clough, Mallory Dittmer, and Alex Harper are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 9, 2026.

		Candidate
		Andrew Clough
		Mallory Dittmer
		Alex Harper

---

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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.
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Republican primary election

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

Bill Bledsoe and Wes Climer are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 9, 2026.

		Candidate
		Bill Bledsoe
		Wes Climer

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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

• Ralph Norman (R)

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here.

Voting information

See also: Voting in South Carolina

Election information in South Carolina: June 9, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

• In-person: May 8, 2026
• By mail: Postmarked by May 11, 2026
• Online: May 10, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

• In-person: May 29, 2026
• By mail: Received by May 29, 2026
• Online: N/A

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

• In-person: June 9, 2026
• By mail: Received by June 9, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

May 26, 2026 to June 5, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (ET)

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Andrew Clough	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Mallory Dittmer	Democratic Party	$39,912	$15,234	$24,678	As of December 31, 2025
Alex Harper	Democratic Party	$23,137	$22,465	$671	As of December 31, 2025
Bill Bledsoe	Republican Party	$50,003	$50,000	$8	As of February 24, 2026
Wes Climer	Republican Party	$569,504	$81,128	$488,376	As of December 31, 2025
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: South Carolina's 5th Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	3/10/2026	3/3/2026	2/24/2026	2/17/2026
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in South Carolina in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in South Carolina, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
South Carolina	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	N/A	$3,480	3/30/2026	Source
South Carolina	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	5% of the active, registered voters in the district	N/A	7/15/2026	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

• 2024
• 2022
• 2020

General election

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

Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) defeated Evangeline Hundley (D) in the general election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ralph Norman (R)	63.5	228,260
		Evangeline Hundley (D)	36.3	130,592
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2%	557

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 359,409
= 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

• Elizabeth Tedder (Independent)

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for June 11, 2024, was canceled. Evangeline Hundley (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 without appearing on the ballot.

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for June 11, 2024, was canceled. Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 without appearing on the ballot.

General election

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

Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) defeated Evangeline Hundley (D) and Larry Gaither (G) in the general election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ralph Norman (R)	64.0	154,725
		Evangeline Hundley (D)	34.5	83,299
	Submit photo	Larry Gaither (G)	1.5	3,547
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1%	136

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 241,707
= 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

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

Evangeline Hundley (D) defeated Kevin Eckert (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Evangeline Hundley	57.6	11,257
	Submit photo	Kevin Eckert	42.4	8,274

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,531
= 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

The Republican primary scheduled for June 14, 2022, was canceled. Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 without appearing on the ballot.

Green Party convention

Green convention for U.S. House South Carolina District 5

Larry Gaither (G) advanced from the Green Party convention for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on May 7, 2022.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Larry Gaither

---

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

General election

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

Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) defeated Moe Brown (D) in the general election for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ralph Norman (R)	60.1	220,006
		Moe Brown (D)	39.9	145,979
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1%	273

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 366,258
= 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

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

Moe Brown (D) defeated Sidney Moore (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Moe Brown	67.9	32,018
		Sidney Moore	32.1	15,127

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 47,145
= 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

• Mark Ali (D)
• Ramin Mammadov (D)

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for June 9, 2020, was canceled. Incumbent Ralph Norman (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House South Carolina District 5 without appearing on the ballot.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

• District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
• Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
• State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

• District map
• Competitiveness
• Presidential elections
• State party control

Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

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

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+11. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 11 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made South Carolina's 5th the 115th most Republican district nationally.

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in South Carolina's 5th Congressional District

Kamala Harris	Donald Trump
38.0%	61.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in South Carolina, 2024

South Carolina presidential election results (1900-2024)

• 16 Democratic wins
• 15 Republican wins
• 1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	2024
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	SR	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also: Party control of South Carolina state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of South Carolina's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from South Carolina
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	1	1
Republican	2	6	8
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	7	9

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in South Carolina's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in South Carolina, October 2025

Office	Officeholder
Governor	Henry McMaster
Lieutenant Governor	Pamela Evette
Secretary of State	Mark Hammond
Attorney General	Alan Wilson

State legislature

South Carolina State Senate

Party		As of January 2026
	Democratic Party	12
	Republican Party	34
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		46

South Carolina House of Representatives

Party		As of January 2026
	Democratic Party	36
	Republican Party	88
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		124

Trifecta control

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

South Carolina	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
South Carolina congressional delegation Voting in South Carolina South Carolina elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

South Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Lindsey Graham (R)

Tim Scott (R)

Representatives

District 1

Nancy Mace (R)

District 2

Joe Wilson (R)

District 3

Sheri Biggs (R)

District 4

William Timmons (R)

District 5

Ralph Norman (R)

District 6

James Clyburn (D)

District 7

Russell Fry (R)

Republican Party (8)

Democratic Party (1)

2025-2026 Elections to the United States Congress

Senate by State

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House by State

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Election information

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates • List of candidates running for election • List of congressional challengers • Retiring senators • Retiring representatives

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Super PACs/Organizations

American Bridge 21st Century • American Crossroads • American Unity PAC • Campaign for Primary Accountability • Club for Growth Action • Congressional Leadership Fund • Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee• Crossroads Generation • Ending Spending Action Fund • Endorse Liberty • Fair Share Action • FreedomWorks for America • Government Integrity Fund • House Majority PAC • Independence USA Fund • League of Conservation Voters • Liberty for All PAC • Majority PAC • National Association of Realtors • NEA Advocacy Fund • Now or Never PAC • Planned Parenthood Votes • Ready for Hillary • Republicans for a Prosperous America • Restore America's Voice PAC • SEIU Pea-Federal • Women Vote!

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