South Carolina elects Haley, Scott (plus Charleston results, coverage roundup)

Image by Tim Scott for Congress Tim Scott, the first black Republican our state has elected to national office in more than 100 years.

Tuesday was a historic day for South Carolina, citizens elected our first woman governor and our first black Republican to national office in more than 100 years. 

Below are a collection of links to interesting stories about the election and those elected. If you're looking to see if a particular candidate won in your area, I'll point you to these pages: South Carolina, Charleston County, Berkeley Country, and Dorchester County.

  • In the governor's race, despite running neck and neck for most of the night, Republican Nikki Haley pulled away from Vincent Sheheen with 52% of the vote (Charleston went Sheheen 50.8%), becoming our state's first woman and minority governor. The Post and Courier has a write-up -- likely her biggest challenge will be finding a way to not repeat Sanford's mistake of going headlong against the Legislature, especially as our state's executive branch is so weak.
  • In the first congressional district that was vacated by Scott Brown, voters once again elected a Republican, but this time it was Tim Scott, the first black Republican elected to national office from South Carolina since Reconstruction ended more than 100 years ago. The Post and Courier also has a nice write-up here. Scott took 61% of the vote in Charleston County and 68% overall in the race he was widely expected to win.
  • The Post and Courier has a nice column about the election with a local perspective.
  • Charleston voters OK'd a 1¢ sales tax hike for school construction by a vote of 63%.
  • Berkeley County OK'd alcohol sales on Sunday by a vote of 67%.
  • In the hotly contested James Island race for House District 115, Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto was unseated to Republican Peter McCoy with a vote of 43.3% to 47% with 12,326 votes cast. The Post and Courier has a brief about the news but the report came before final results.
  • In a turnabout, incumbent Democrat Vida Miller had been tailing In early results House District 108, 48% to 52%, but had a strong turnabout and won with 59.5% of the vote.
  • U.S. House Rep. Joe Wilson won re-election in the expensive contest for S.C.'s 2nd Congressional District with 54% of the vote, and Wilson's son Alan Wilson (also Republican) won the attorney general seat (54.6% to Matthew Richardson's 43%.)

If you'd like to see how election day and night unfolded, check out our live blog from yesterday and there's always our election topic page.

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