Endorsements a factor in some S.C. legislative primaries

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ The governor’s former chief of staff bested a sitting Republican state senator Tuesday, one of at least seven upsets of Statehouse incumbents.

Tom Davis beat Sen. Catherine Ceips, the state’s only female senator seeking re-election.

He was among five candidates endorsed by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford over GOP incumbents. Davis stepped down to run for Senate, saying it would allow him to push the governor’s agenda directly. The two have been allies since college.

Voters sent Ceips to the Senate last year in a special election after five years in the House. Neither Ceips nor Davis immediately returned cell phone messages seeking comment.

Ceips’ political consultant, Rod Shealy, blamed the loss on the financial influence of outside groups pushing Sanford’s agenda.

“If you’ve got that much, you can do things,“ he said.

In the Upstate, Reps. Bill Sandifer and Keith Kelly easily kept their seats despite Sanford’s endorsements of their challengers. Unlike Davis, they face no Democratic foe in November.

All 170 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs this year, and voters chose the Democratic or Republican nominee in 48 House races and 22 Senate contests. With Republicans controlling 60 percent of both chambers, the balance of power is not expected to shift in November.

Among the incumbents were two high-profile black Democratic senators who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Both easily defeated black opponents who made that support a central issue Tuesday.

Four-term Sens. Robert Ford of Charleston and Darrell Jackson of Columbia won their primaries, victories that Ford called a “miracle.“

He said he and Jackson, minister of a 10,000-member congregation, prayed together over the phone for more than an hour Monday night.

“It was bloody,“ he said about his race against Charleston lawyer Dwayne Green, a Barack Obama fan and volunteer.

Jackson’s opponent, a school board chairwoman in Richland County named Wendy Brawley, accused the incumbent of “crossing an ethical line” when his media consulting firm negotiated a $10,000-per-month contract with Clinton’s campaign.

Green said Ford’s comments about Obama prompted his run. Early in the primary season, Ford predicted trouble for Democrats in November should a black nominee lead the ticket.

“We’d lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything,“ said Ford, who later apologized. Green said Ford’s comment took the state backward.

Ford said Tuesday he will support Obama, but he plans to call his campaign Wednesday and ask why it didn’t rein in the rhetoric in statehouse races.

“These Barack Obama people running against us were against us in his name. My opponent, that was his whole campaign,“ Ford said. Obama’s “talking about a united Democratic front, so why didn’t you discipline your people like Sen. Clinton disciplined us. They were lambasting us in the black community.“

He said his public service trumped the “Obama fallout.“

In the Republican contests, Sanford publicly endorsed nine candidates.

One candidate he backed is among the 11 who advanced to a runoff in two weeks.

Lexington Sen. Jake Knotts will be in a runoff against Katrina Shealy, former chairwoman of the Lexington County GOP. Knotts, who was sent to the Senate in 2002 after eight years in the House, is a frequent critic of Sanford.

Shealy was endorsed by Sanford and groups pushing his agenda. Pro-school voucher South Carolinians for Responsible Government paid for anti-Knotts ads that feature dancing pigs and criticize his support of using tax money for local festivals.

“Call me what they want, but I get the job done. When I believe in something, I go after it,“ Knotts said. “I’m not a paper tiger, and I’m not a puppet. She’s been a puppet from the beginning.“

Shealy said she’s glad to get the endorsements, but she’s made no promises to the governor or voucher crowd. She said she supports many of Sanford’s ideas but is not afraid to buck him.

Besides Ceips, other incumbents to lose include GOP Reps. Bob Leach, Gloria Haskins, Ralph Davenport and Heyward Hutson; Democratic Rep. Fletcher Smith; and GOP Sen. Randy Scott.

Scott was charged with driving under the influence in April — an arrest he claimed was politically motivated. The charge was dropped last month after a judge discovered a one-minute gap in the audio portion of the videotape of the arrest. Former state Sen. Mike Rose, who Sanford endorsed, beat Scott.

Three House members seeking Senate seats faced primary challenges.

Democratic Rep. John Scott had a slight lead over opponent Vince Ford for a Senate seat representing Columbia, but less than 100 votes separated them, and a recount is likely.

GOP Rep. Scott Talley is in a runoff with Lee Bright for a Senate seat in Spartanburg.

Rep. Creighton Coleman is in a runoff with Leah Moody — daughter of retiring Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence — to replace retiring Sen. Linda Short. The Chester Democrat had been the Senate’s lone female for years until Ceips’ election.

Other incumbents advancing to runoffs include GOP Rep. Bob Walker, Democratic Rep. Ken Kennedy and GOP Sen. Jim Ritchie.