South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2006
Encyclopedia
The 2006 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican
Governor
Mark Sanford
was running for re-election against Democratic
State Senator
Tommy Moore
and became only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term (Robert Kingston Scott
and Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
were the others). Sanford started the campaign with a double-digit edge over Moore and he maintained that lead to election day. During the course of the campaign, Sanford's approval rating averaged in the mid fifties.http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=79bc576e-2f1d-4cec-a2b4-94aecce55b09
, a State Senator
from western South Carolina, emerged with Florence
Mayor Frank Willis as the major candidates in the Democratic primary election
for governor. Rumors circulated that Superintendent of Education and former U.S. Senate
candidate, Inez Tenenbaum
, might enter the race, but she ultimately chose not to run for governor nor seek re-election to her position. Kenneth Holland
, a former U.S. Representative
from the 5th congressional district
, briefly entered the race, but dropped out a month later after failing to raise enough financial contributions.
Moore and Willis traded barbs over campaign contributions made by Willis and his wife to prominent Republicans, including President George W. Bush
and Senator Lindsay Graham
. Attorney C. Dennis Aughtry, who entered the campaign at the eleventh hour, floated the idea of legalizing casinos statewide to raise money for public schools. Moore garnered more than 50% of the vote in the Democratic primary held on June 13 and thus avoided a runoff election
.
Mark Sanford
faced a primary challenge
from Oscar Lovelace
, a physician
from the Midlands
. When former Governor David Beasley
ran for re-election in 1998
, he faced a primary challenge and went on to lose the general election to Jim Hodges
. Sanford's veto of a heart center for Lexington County and theatrics such as bringing pigs to the Statehouse to show his displeasure of pork barrel
spending by the General Assembly
angered and annoyed many Republicans. However, Sanford's strategy of avoiding Lovelace and refusal to debate worked as the governor scored a decisive victory in the primary on June 13.
State Senator Tommy Moore ran as a good manager of state government. He held socially conservative and fiscally moderate positions, which put him squarely at odds with the libertarian
incumbent. Moore disagreed with what he believed was Sanford's condescending and combative approach of dealing with the General Assembly. The senator also believed that Sanford lacked leadership skills, and that lack of leadership had brought South Carolina to a standstill over the past four years in his view. The main policy proposals that he developed were:
On July 7, several weeks after the primary election, Lexington County State Senator
Jake Knotts launched a last minute effort to place his name on the ballot as a petition candidate for governor. He had feuded with Governor Sanford over a number of issues, including the heart center for Lexington County, and supported Lovelace in the Republican primary. In order to be on the ballot in November, Knotts needed to collect 10,000 signatures of registered voters by July 17, which he failed to do. Knotts's political consultant publicly stated that he could not have raised enough money to have run a successful candidacy.
There were two trains of thought on the effects of a candidacy by Knotts. It was generally believed that had Knotts entered the race, it would have split the Republican vote and helped elect Tommy Moore. However, because those who supported Knotts went on to support Moore, it was also argued that a Knotts candidacy would have in fact deprived Moore of both votes and money.
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Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Governor
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011....
was running for re-election against Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
State Senator
South Carolina Senate
The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
Tommy Moore
Tommy Moore (politician)
Tommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
and became only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term (Robert Kingston Scott
Robert Kingston Scott
Robert Kingston Scott was an American Republican politician, the 74th Governor of South Carolina, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
and Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
Carroll Ashmore Campbell, Jr. was a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as 112th Governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995.-Early life:He was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the oldest of six children...
were the others). Sanford started the campaign with a double-digit edge over Moore and he maintained that lead to election day. During the course of the campaign, Sanford's approval rating averaged in the mid fifties.http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=79bc576e-2f1d-4cec-a2b4-94aecce55b09
Democratic primary
Tommy MooreTommy Moore (politician)
Tommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
, a State Senator
South Carolina Senate
The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
from western South Carolina, emerged with Florence
Florence, South Carolina
-Municipal government and politics:The City of Florence has a council-manager form of government. The mayor and city council are elected every four years, with no term limits...
Mayor Frank Willis as the major candidates in the Democratic primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
for governor. Rumors circulated that Superintendent of Education and former U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
candidate, Inez Tenenbaum
Inez Tenenbaum
Inez Moore Tenenbaum is an American politician from the state of South Carolina. She is currently serving as head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.-Education:...
, might enter the race, but she ultimately chose not to run for governor nor seek re-election to her position. Kenneth Holland
Kenneth Lamar Holland
Kenneth Lamar Holland is a Democratic former member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina.Holland was born in Hickory, North Carolina on November 24, 1934. He attended public schools in Gaffney, South Carolina. Holland served in the National Guard from 1952 to 1959. ...
, a former U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from the 5th congressional district
South Carolina's 5th congressional district
The 5th Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. It includes all of Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marlboro, Newberry and York counties and parts of Florence, Lee...
, briefly entered the race, but dropped out a month later after failing to raise enough financial contributions.
Moore and Willis traded barbs over campaign contributions made by Willis and his wife to prominent Republicans, including President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Senator Lindsay Graham
Lindsay Graham
Lindsay Graham is a recording engineer and record producer living in Dallas, Texas. He owns and works from his studio, Junius Recording Co., in Old East Dallas.-Production work:...
. Attorney C. Dennis Aughtry, who entered the campaign at the eleventh hour, floated the idea of legalizing casinos statewide to raise money for public schools. Moore garnered more than 50% of the vote in the Democratic primary held on June 13 and thus avoided a runoff election
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
.
Republican primary
Portending a sign of trouble, incumbent GovernorGovernor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011....
faced a primary challenge
Primary challenge
A primary challenge occurs in U.S. politics when an incumbent elected official is challenged in an upcoming primary election by a member of his own political party...
from Oscar Lovelace
Oscar Lovelace
Oscar Fred Lovelace is a physician in Prosperity, South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina. In the primary, scheduled for June 13, 2006, he sought to unseat the incumbent Republican governor, Mark Sanford...
, a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
from the Midlands
Midlands, South Carolina
The Midlands roughly refers to an area in the middle of South Carolina. Columbia is the largest city in the region and location of the state government...
. When former Governor David Beasley
David Beasley
David Muldrow Beasley is a Republican who served one term as the 113th Governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999....
ran for re-election in 1998
South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1998
The 1998 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Jim Hodges, the Democratic nominee, handily defeated Republican Governor David Beasley to become the 114th governor of South Carolina...
, he faced a primary challenge and went on to lose the general election to Jim Hodges
Jim Hodges
James Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
. Sanford's veto of a heart center for Lexington County and theatrics such as bringing pigs to the Statehouse to show his displeasure of pork barrel
Pork barrel
Pork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
spending by the General Assembly
South Carolina General Assembly
The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
angered and annoyed many Republicans. However, Sanford's strategy of avoiding Lovelace and refusal to debate worked as the governor scored a decisive victory in the primary on June 13.
Campaign
Governor Mark Sanford proposed three major issues in his campaign for re-election, chief among them being the restructuring of state government. He wanted to reduce the number of statewide elected officials from nine to three and eliminate the state's Budget and Control Board. The governor insisted that these measures would reduce the number of redundant positions and make state government both more efficient and less costly. Sanford's three major issues for the campaign were:- Restructuring state government.
- School choiceSchool choiceSchool choice is a term used to describe a wide array of programs aimed at giving families the opportunity to choose the school their children will attend. As a matter of form, school choice does not give preference to one form of schooling or another, rather manifests itself whenever a student...
through tuition tax credits. - Tax cuts and spending restraint.
State Senator Tommy Moore ran as a good manager of state government. He held socially conservative and fiscally moderate positions, which put him squarely at odds with the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
incumbent. Moore disagreed with what he believed was Sanford's condescending and combative approach of dealing with the General Assembly. The senator also believed that Sanford lacked leadership skills, and that lack of leadership had brought South Carolina to a standstill over the past four years in his view. The main policy proposals that he developed were:
- A rural infrastructure bank to help undeveloped counties.
- A governor's office that actively recruits new businesses to the state.
- A 30 cent tax increase on cigarettes to offset small business tax credits for employee health insurance.
On July 7, several weeks after the primary election, Lexington County State Senator
South Carolina Senate
The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
Jake Knotts launched a last minute effort to place his name on the ballot as a petition candidate for governor. He had feuded with Governor Sanford over a number of issues, including the heart center for Lexington County, and supported Lovelace in the Republican primary. In order to be on the ballot in November, Knotts needed to collect 10,000 signatures of registered voters by July 17, which he failed to do. Knotts's political consultant publicly stated that he could not have raised enough money to have run a successful candidacy.
There were two trains of thought on the effects of a candidacy by Knotts. It was generally believed that had Knotts entered the race, it would have split the Republican vote and helped elect Tommy Moore. However, because those who supported Knotts went on to support Moore, it was also argued that a Knotts candidacy would have in fact deprived Moore of both votes and money.
Election results
| colspan=5 |RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
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Polling
| Source | Date | Moore (D) | Sanford (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey USA | November 5, 2006 | 40% | 57% |
| Palmetto Poll | October 26, 2006 | 31% | 58% |
| Rasmussen | October 25, 2006 | 34% | 57% |
| Survey USA | October 17, 2006 | 41% | 56% |
| Survey USA | September 28, 2006 | 46% | 50% |
| Survey USA | September 20, 2006 | 41% | 54% |
| Rasmussen | September 10, 2006 | 38% | 51% |
| Rasmussen | August 4, 2006 | 38% | 47% |
| Rasmussen | June 23, 2006 | 39% | 51% |
| Rasmussen | May 10, 2006 | 33% | 52% |
| Rasmussen | February 17, 2006 | 36% | 49% |
See also
- U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2006
- Governor of South CarolinaGovernor of South CarolinaThe Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
- List of Governors of South Carolina
- South Carolina gubernatorial elections
- South Carolina state elections, 2006South Carolina state elections, 2006The 2006 South Carolina State Elections took place on November 7, 2006, and included the gubernatorial election. South Carolina is unique in having nine popularly elected constitutional officers, including the United States' only elected Adjutant General, all of whom will be up for reelection...