# 2013 South Carolina's 1st congressional district special election

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A special election for South Carolina's 1st congressional district was held on May 7, 2013, to fill the seat following the resignation of U.S. Representative Tim Scott, who was appointed to the United States Senate by Governor Nikki Haley to fill the seat previously held by Jim DeMint. DeMint resigned from the Senate on January 2, 2013, to accept a position as president of The Heritage Foundation.
The filing period for candidates lasted between January 18 and January 28, 2013. The special primary elections took place on March 19, 2013. Businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch won the Democratic Party primary and Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina who held the seat from 1995 to 2001, advanced to a runoff with former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic for the Republican Party nomination. Prior to the runoff, 14 Republicans and one Democrat signed the "Reject the Debt" pledge put out by the nonpartisan Coalition to Reduce Spending. In the runoff election on April 2, Sanford defeated Bostic. Eugene Platt, a James Island Public Service Commissioner, was nominated by the South Carolina Green Party. In the general election on May 7, Sanford received 54% of the vote, beating Colbert Busch (45%) and Platt (1%).

## Republican primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Keith Blandford, businessman and Libertarian nominee for this district in 2012
* Curtis Bostic, former Charleston County Councilman (defeated in runoff)
* Ric Bryant, engineer
* Larry Grooms, state senator
* Jonathan Rath Hoffman, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, former director of border security at the White House
* Jeff King, engineer for a military contractor
* John R. Kuhn, former state senator
* Tim Larkin, defense engineer and member of the South Carolina Army National Guard
* Chip Limehouse, state representative
* Peter M. McCoy Jr., state representative
* Elizabeth Moffly, member of the Charleston County School Board
* Ray Nash, former Dorchester County Sheriff
* Andy Patrick, state representative
* Shawn Pinkston, attorney
* Mark Sanford, former Governor of South Carolina and former U.S. Representative (won primary)
* Teddy Turner, high school teacher and son of Ted Turner

#### Declined

* Carroll Campbell III, businessperson and son of former governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
* George E. Campsen III, state senator
* Tom Davis, state senator
* Larry Kobrovsky, former Charleston County School Board member
* Joe McKeown, chief of staff for Tim Scott and former Charleston County Councilman
* James H. Merrill, state representative
* Thomas Ravenel, former state treasurer
* Jenny Sanford, former First Lady of South Carolina
* Duffie Stone, Judicial Circuit Solicitor
* Elliott Summey, Charleston County Councilman
* Paul Thurmond, state senator

### Primary
#### Results

2013 Republican Primary – South Carolina's 1st Congressional District Special Election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Mark Sanford | 19,854 | 36.91% |
| | Republican | Curtis Bostic | 7,168 | 13.33% |
| | Republican | Larry Grooms | 6,673 | 12.40% |
| | Republican | Teddy Turner | 4,252 | 7.90% |
| | Republican | Andy Patrick | 3,783 | 7.03% |
| | Republican | John Kuhn | 3,479 | 6.47% |
| | Republican | Chip Limehouse | 3,279 | 6.10% |
| | Republican | Ray Nash | 2,508 | 4.66% |
| | Republican | Peter McCoy | 867 | 1.61% |
| | Republican | Elizabeth Moffly | 530 | 0.99% |
| | Republican | Tim Larkin | 393 | 0.73% |
| | Republican | Jonathan Hoffman | 360 | 0.67% |
| | Republican | Jeff King | 211 | 0.39% |
| | Republican | Keith Blandford | 195 | 0.36% |
| | Republican | Shawn Pinkston | 154 | 0.29% |
| | Republican | Ric Bryant | 87 | 0.16% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 53,793 | 100% |

### Runoff
#### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Curtis Bostic | Mark Sanford | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | March 22–24, 2013 | 648 | ± 3.9% | 40% | 53% | — | 7% |

#### Results

2013 Republican Primary Runoff – South Carolina's 1st Congressional District Special Election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Mark Sanford | 26,127 | 56.59% |
| | Republican | Curtis Bostic | 20,044 | 43.41% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 46,171 | 100% |

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Elizabeth Colbert Busch, director of business development at Clemson University’s Restoration Institute, (won primary; also nominated by the South Carolina Working Families Party)
* Ben Frasier, perennial candidate, former aide to Congressman L. Mendel Rivers

#### Withdrawn

* Bobbie Rose, former teacher and nominee for the 1st district in 2012
* Martin Skelly, businessperson

#### Declined

* Robert Burton, pilot and retired Air Force Colonel
* Wendell Gilliard, state representative
* Blaine Lotz, Chairman of the Beaufort County Democratic Party
* Leon Stavrinakis, state representative

### Primary
#### Results

2013 Democratic Primary – South Carolina's 1st Congressional District Special Election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Elizabeth Colbert Busch | 15,802 | 95.86% | N/A |
| | Democratic | Ben Frasier | 682 | 4.14% | N/A |

## Green Party
### On the Ballot

* Eugene Platt, James Island Public Service Commissioner and 1990 Democratic Party candidate for the 1st district (won primary)

### Declared

* Larry Carter Center, political activist

## General election

On May 7, 2013, Mark Sanford won the election and took the seat vacated by U.S. Representative Tim Scott.

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Mark Sanford (R) | Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) | Eugene Platt (G) | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | May 4–5, 2013 | 1,239 | ± 2.8% | 47% | 46% | 4% | 4% |
| RRH/PMI Polling | April 29 – May 1, 2013 | 650 | ± 5% | 46% | 46% | — | 8% |
| Public Policy Polling | April 19–21, 2013 | 796 | ± 3.5% | 41% | 50% | 3% | 5% |
| Lake Research Partners (D–Colbert–Busch) | March 25–27, 2013 | 500 | ± 4.4% | 44% | 47% | — | 7% |
| Public Policy Polling | March 22–24, 2013 | 1,175 | ± 2.9% | 45% | 47% | — | 8% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Curtis Bostic (R) | Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) | Eugene Platt (G) | Other | Undecided |
| Lake Research Partners^ | March 25–27, 2013 | 500 | ± 4.4% | 39% | 48% | — | — | 10% |
| Public Policy Polling | March 22–24, 2013 | 1,175 | ± 2.9% | 43% | 43% | — | — | 14% |

### Results

South Carolina's 1st congressional district, 2013 (special) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Mark Sanford | 77,600 | 54.03% | −8.00% |
| | Democratic | Elizabeth Colbert Busch | 64,961 | 45.22% | +9.51% |
| | Green | Eugene Platt | 690 | 0.48% | N/A |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 384 | 0.27% | +0.20% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 143,635 | 100.00% | N/A |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

### County results

Vote breakdown by county :
| | Mark Sanford Republican | Mark Sanford Republican | Elizabeth Colbert Busch Democrat | Elizabeth Colbert Busch Democrat | Total |
| County | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes |
| Beaufort | 17,896 | 52.60% | 14,871 | 43.71% | 34,020 |
| Berkeley | 15,137 | 60.90% | 8,670 | 34.88% | 24,856 |
| Charleston | 32,019 | 50.18% | 29,056 | 45.54% | 63,809 |
| Colleton | 272 | 69.21% | 109 | 27.74% | 393 |
| Dorchester | 12,276 | 59.72% | 7,440 | 36.19% | 20,557 |