South Carolina Superintendent of Education election, 2026

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← 2022
South Carolina Superintendent of Education
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending Primary runoff: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in South Carolina
Ballotpedia analysis
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South Carolina executive elections
Governor Lieutenant Governor Attorney General Secretary of State Agriculture Commissioner Comptroller Superintendent of Education Treasurer

South Carolina is holding an election for superintendent of education on November 3, 2026.

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

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

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

Candidate profiles

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Voting information

See also: Voting in South Carolina

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Past elections

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2014.

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
	Submit photo	Patricia Mickel (G)	1.6	27,468
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,744

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,688,718
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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
	Submit photo	Kathy Maness	36.1	63,080

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

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	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
✔	Submit photo	Kathy Maness	30.6	103,608
✔		Ellen Weaver	23.3	79,077
	Submit photo	Travis Bedson	13.9	47,241
	Submit photo	Bryan Chapman	12.5	42,498
		Kizzi Gibson	11.1	37,743
		Lynda Leventis-Wells	8.5	28,755

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

---

	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.
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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
✔	Submit photo	Patricia Mickel (G)

---

	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.

2018

See also: South Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018

General election

General election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Incumbent Molly Mitchell Spearman won election in the general election for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Molly Mitchell Spearman (R)	98.1	998,057
		Other/Write-in votes	1.9	18,866

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,016,923
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• James Robbins (Independent)
• Israel Romero (D)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Israel Romero advanced from the Democratic primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Israel Romero

---

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

Incumbent Molly Mitchell Spearman advanced from the Republican primary for South Carolina Superintendent of Education on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Molly Mitchell Spearman

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
= 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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2014

See also: South Carolina down ballot state executive elections, 2014

Republican Molly Mitchell Spearman won election on November 4, 2014.

South Carolina Superintendent, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Molly Mitchell Spearman	57%	699,081
	Democratic	Tom Thompson	38.8%	476,358
	American	Ed Murray	3.8%	46,695
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.4%	5,055
Total Votes				1,227,189
Election results via South Carolina State Election Commission

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• South Carolina superintendent of education official website

Footnotes

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