Wilson, Clyburn win as other incumbents battle to keep S.C. congressional seats
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson won reelection Tuesday against challenger David Robinson in the 2nd Congressional District of South Carolina – one of three U.S. House races including parts of the CSRA in the Palmetto State.
2nd Congressional District
As incumbent in the district, Wilson represents Lexington, Aiken and Barnwell counties, most of Richland County and part of Orangeburg County.
Wilson, a Republican, was born in Charleston, received his undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University in Virginia and completed his law degree at the University of South Carolina.
A real estate attorney by trade, he was a founding partner of the West Columbia law firm Kirkland, Wilson, Moore, Taylor & Thomas.
His career in public service officially began when he served on the staffs of South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond and Rep. Floyd Spence.
Under President Ronald Reagan, he was deputy general counsel to the U.S. energy secretary and former South Carolina Gov. Jim Edwards.
He served in the Army Reserve as well as the Army National Guard.
Before being elected to Congress in 2001, he served 17 years, with perfect attendance, in the South Carolina Senate, where he was elected Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the first Republican chairman since the Reconstruction Era.
He is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the most senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. He also is on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Since the 111th Congress, he’s been appointed to the highly influential Republican Policy Committee.
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Robinson is a Democrat, a veteran and a native of Columbia.
As an independent contractor, he owned and operated two trucks before deciding to close his business and enlist in the U.S. Army after the 9/11 attacks.
“Throughout his military career, David served with distinction, earning accolades for his unwavering dedication to defending the freedoms and values he holds dear,” his campaign biography states.
In a notable national news story, Robinson’s son Daniel, a geologist, vanished in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona in 2021.
Robinson mobilized a grassroots movement, uniting volunteers nationwide in the search for his son, who still hasn’t been found.
Robinson has been critical of law enforcement attempts to find his son, saying he’s put more effort into it than officers have.
As a result of this experience, he’s become a ionate advocate for families of people who go missing,
He wants to reform and enhance the processes for locating missing individuals, and he’s developed a plan to streamline coordination, improve resource allocation, and empower authorities to act quickly and effectively.
6th Congressional District
Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing South Carolina on Tuesday.
The sole Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, Clyburn is also its dean.
He has represented the district stretching from Charleston to Columbia, including majority Black rural areas, since 1993.
Clyburn is credited with delivering Democrat Joe Biden a key endorsement that sparked his 2020 primary victory and eventual White House victory.
The district includes Allendale, Bamberg, Calhoun, Clarendon, Hampton and Williamsburg counties and parts of Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Florence, Jasper, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties.
Clyburn has represented the state’s 6th District since it was drawn in 1992 to have a majority of minority voters. This year, his Republican challenger is attorney Duke Buckner in the sprawling district that is bounded by areas around Charleston, Beaufort and Columbia.
Clyburn is a key member of the U.S. House’s Democratic leadership and his endorsement of President Joe Biden just before the 2020 South Carolina presidential primary sparked his longtime friend’s path to victory.
He’s challenged by:
- Joseph Oddo of the Alliance Party
- Duke Buckner, a Republican
- Gregg Dixon of the United Citizens Party
- Michael Simpson, a Libertarian
3rd Congressional District
In South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, a pro-Trump Republican candidate won a three-way race to succeed Republican Jeff Duncan in representing Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens and Saluda counties and portions of Greenville and Newberry counties.
Taking the victory was Sheri Biggs, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, a board-certified nurse practitioner and mental health nurse practitioner.
She defeated two other candidates:
- Bryon Best, a Democrat: Best earned a degree in history from Livingstone College and now manages Greenwood’s Sherwin-Williams store.
- Mike Bedenbaugh of the Alliance Party: A Prosperity native, he‘s led Preservation SC, a nonprofit preserving historic properties.
Other congressional districts
- Republican Rep. William Timmons won reelection to the 4th District U.S. House seat representing South Carolina on Tuesday. Timmons, a lawyer, was first elected to Congress in 2018 after serving in the state Senate. The upstate 4th District includes the cities of Greenville and Spartanburg. A Republican has won every election in the district since 1992. Timmons defeated Democrat Kathryn Harvey, who ran harder and spent more money than almost any challenger in the past three decades, as well as Constitution Party candidate Mark Hackett.
- South Carolina Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace on Tuesday cemented her hold on her 1st Congressional District seat in a state that doesn’t mind sending people back to Congress for decades. Mace defeated Democratic businessman and former International African American Museum CEO Michael Moore to win a third term. There had been questions over whether Mace’s attention-seeking personality and brashness and willingness to buck her party’s establishment could be a liability. But her coastal 1st District continues to embraces her.
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