A Look at the 2024 State House Elections

This year, all 170 legislator seats are up for re-election in South Carolina - all 124 SC House Members (2 year terms), and all 46 SC Senators (4 year terms). Every four years, this occurs in South Carolina - aligned with Presidential elections - and the implications can be massive. But it’s not just November 5 (Election Day) that matters - June 11 also matters for South Carolina, it’s Primary Election Day, where individuals running for the same party’s slot on the ballot are all up for election. Both Republican and Democratic Primaries occur on June 11.

Side note - we have open primaries in SC, meaning that while you can only vote in one primary (Republican or Democrat) when you arrive to vote - you do not have to register for a Party in advance, nor does choosing a party’s ballot automatically register for that party.

For some districts in South Carolina, the Primary Election is the election. For these districts, candidates only from one party filed to run for their office, so there is no competition on the November ballot, only in the June Primary ballot. 

Here is a look at how the 2024 Primary Elections look in South Carolina:

1. Number of Districts with a Primary Election (either party):
   1. House: 54 (44%)
   2. Senate: 19 (41%)
   3. Total: 73 (43%)
       
2. Number of Districts where the Primary IS the Election (either party): 
   1. House: 25 (20%)
      Note: Another 2 General Elections will be the Primary winner vs. Alternative Party.
   2. Senate: 5 (11%)
      Note: Another 2 General Elections will be the Primary winner vs. Alternative Party.
   3. Total: 30 (18%)
      Plus: 4 More (34 / 20%) if you include the races noted above and assume major party candidates win.
       
3. Uncontested Races
   1. House: 44 (35%)
      1. 41 (93%) of these are incumbents.
      2. Note: Another 3 races will be a Republican or Democrat (only 1) vs. Alternative Party in November.
   2. Senate: 13 (28%)
      1. 13 (100%) of these are incumbents.
      2. Note: Another 2 races will be a Republican or Democrat (only 1) vs. Alternative Party in November.
   3. Total: 57 (34%)
      1. Plus: 5 More (62 / 37%) if you include the races noted above and assume major party candidates win.

Takeaway: Add up the number of districts where the Primary is the election, and the number of Uncontested races, and 52% (87) of all 170 Legislative seats will be determined by 7:00PM on June 11 (that number goes up to 96, or 57%, if you include races where the only General Election opposition is from an Alternate Party).

Get out and Vote on June 11!

Click here to see a full candidate list and breakdown of stats created by our friends over at Pecan PR.