United States Senate election in South Carolina, 2004

United States Senate election in South Carolina, 2004

1998 ← November 2, 2004 → 2010

Nominee Jim DeMint Inez Tenenbaum Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 857,167 704,384 Percentage 53.67% 44.10%

County Results by margin of victory

Senator before election Fritz Hollings Democratic Elected Senator Jim DeMint Republican

The 2004 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings decided to retire. Jim DeMint, a Republican Representative won the open seat.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Ben Frasier, former congressional aide
• Inez Tenenbaum, South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Results

2004 South Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Inez Tenenbaum	126,720	75.5
	Democratic	Ben Frasier	41,070	24.5

Republican primary

Candidates

• David Beasley, former Governor
• Charlie Condon, State Attorney General
• Orly Benny Davis, businesswoman
• Jim DeMint, U.S. Congressman
• Mark McBride, Mayor of Myrtle Beach
• Thomas Ravenel, businessman

Campaign

The Senate election two years earlier in 2002 did not have a primary election because the South Carolina Republicans were more preoccupied with the gubernatorial contest, despite having the first open senate seat in 40 years. The retirement of Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings gave the Republicans an opportunity to pick up the seat and with no other interesting positions up for election in 2004, a crowded field developed in the Republican primary. Furthermore, the Republicans were motivated by having President Bush at the top of the ticket enabling them to ride his coattails to victory.

Former Governor David Beasley, from the Pee Dee, entered the race and quickly emerged as the frontrunner because of his support from the evangelical voters. However, during his term as Governor from 1994 to 1998 he had greatly angered the electorate by proposing to remove the Confederate Naval Jack from the dome of the statehouse and by being against the adoption of a state lottery to provide for college scholarships. Both positions led to the loss of his re-election in 1998 and the issues continued to trouble him in the Senate race.

The battle for second place in the primary was between Upstate congressman, Jim DeMint, and Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel. DeMint was able to squeak out a second place finish because Charlie Condon, a former Attorney General of South Carolina, split the Lowcountry vote with Ravenel thus providing DeMint the margin he needed. In addition, while many voters were attracted to the Ravenel campaign and felt that he had a future in politics, they believed that he should set his sights on a less high profile office first before trying to become Senator. Resigned to defeat, Ravenel endorsed DeMint in the runoff election.

In the runoff election on June 22, 2004, DeMint scored a surprising victory over Beasley. Ravenel's endorsement of DeMint proved crucial as the Lowcountry counties heavily went for the Representative from the Upstate. Also, Beasley had burnt too many bridges while governor and was unable to increase his share of the vote in the runoff.

Results

Republican Primary
Candidate	Votes	%
David Beasley	107,847	36.6
Jim DeMint	77,567	26.3
Thomas Ravenel	73,167	24.8
Charlie Condon	27,694	9.4
Mark McBride	6,479	2.2
Orly Benny Davis	1,915	0.7

Republican Primary Runoff
Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Jim DeMint	154,644	59.2	+32.9
David Beasley	106,480	40.8	+4.2

General election

Candidates

Major

• Jim DeMint (R), U.S. Congressman
• Inez Tenenbaum (D), South Carolina Superintendent of Education

Minor

• Tee Ferguson (United Citizens)
• Efia Nwangaza (Green)
• Rebekah E. Sutherland (Libertarian)
• Patrick Tyndall (Constitution)

Campaign

DeMint entered the general election campaign severely weakened from the primary fight, having spent most of his campaign funds. He stressed to the voters that he would follow conservative principles and provide an important Republican vote in the closely divided Senate. Democrats fared poorly in statewide elections in South Carolina, so Tenenbaum tried to make the race about issues rather than party identification. She attacked DeMint's support of the FairTax proposal because it would increase the sales tax by 23%. The election victory by DeMint merely cemented South Carolina's shift to the Republican column as the best candidate the Democrats could offer was soundly defeated by the typical 10 point margin.

Polling

Source	Date	DeMint (R)	Tenenbaum (D)
McLaughlin	October 28, 2004 [1]	48%	40%
SurveyUSA	October 24, 2004 [2]	52%	39%
SurveyUSA	October 23, 2004 [3]	42%	52%
Mason-Dixon	October 20, 2004 [4]	47%	43%
SurveyUSA	October 12, 2004 [5]	46%	43%
Rasmussen Reports	October 6, 2004 [6]	49%	43%
McLaughlin	September 30, 2004 [7]	46%	36%
Mason-Dixon	September 29, 2004 [8]	50%	38%
GSG	September 29, 2004 [9]	43%	46%
SurveyUSA	September 21, 2004 [10]	51%	39%
Harrison-Hickman	September 9, 2004 [11]	44%	41%
SurveyUSA	August 18, 2004 [12]	52%	39%

Results

South Carolina U.S. Senate Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jim DeMint	857,167	53.6	+7.9
	Democratic	Inez Tenenbaum	704,384	44.1	-8.6
	Constitution	Patrick Tyndall	13,464	0.8	+0.8
	Libertarian	Rebekah E. Sutherland	10,678	0.7	-0.9
	United Citizens Party	Tee Ferguson	5,859	0.4	+0.4
	Green	Efia Nwangaza*	4,245	0.3	+0.3
	No party	Write-Ins	1,286	0.1	+0.1
Majority			152,783	9.5	+2.5
Turnout			1,597,221	69.0	+16.2
	Republican gain from Democratic
*Nwangaza ran under the Independence Party in Aiken and Calhoun counties; her totals are combined.

2004 South Carolina U.S. Senate election map, by percentile by county.

  65+% won by DeMint

  60%-64% won by DeMint

  55%-59% won by DeMint

  50%-54% won by DeMint

  <50% won by DeMint

  <50% won by Tenenbaum

  50%-54% won by Tenenbaum

  55%-59% won by Tenenbaum

  60%-64% won by Tenenbaum

  65%+ won by Tenenbaum

References

• Harrell, Peter E. (2004-10-14). "SOUTH CAROLINA: Debate Poses Question of Who Has Momentum". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2004/10/14/news-1386206.html?pagewanted=print&position=. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 
• Graham, Michael (2004-11-01). "The Revolutionary". National Review Online. http://www.nationalreview.com/mgraham/graham200411011102.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-01. 

See also

• List of United States Senators from South Carolina