James Clyburn

COLUMBIA — Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn is on track to go for his 18th term in office, cornering the votes in his 6th Congressional District with 93 percent of the turnout when the Associated Press called his primary race at 7:45 pm.

Democratic primary challenger Frederick Goodwin had 7 percent.

In the opposing Republican primary, John Peterson was leading over Maurice Washington with 69 percent of the vote, putting him in line to face off against Clyburn in November.

The district includes parts of Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Florence, Jasper, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties and all of Allendale, Bamberg, Calhoun, Clarendon, Hampton, and Williamsburg counties.

Who are the candidates?

Clyburn, 85, is the longest serving member of Congress in South Carolina history. He was first elected in 1993, becoming the first South Carolinian and second African-American to hold the House Majority Whip position in 2007 — the third highest rank in the House of Representatives.

While a historic number of veteran members of the House of Representatives have decided not to seek reelection this cycle, Clyburn has maintained his experience is important in Washington.

“The Bible says that the young are called because of their strength and the older, because of their knowledge,” Clyburn told reporters earlier this year, adding he believed there should be an adequate balance of both for a society to be successful.

His opponent, Frederick Goodwin, unsuccessfully ran for a town council seat last year in Santee, a small town in Orangeburg County. Goodwin did not have a campaign website or any social media.

On the Republican side, Maurice Washington is an insurance and financial advisor from Charleston with a background in politics. He’s the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, previously served on Charleston City Council from 1991 to 1999, and was appointed to former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s gubernatorial transition teams in 2002 and 2006.

His campaign is focused on expanding economic opportunity to rural areas, funding education based on graduation and retention, and expanding access to affordable healthcare.

His opponent, John Peterson, is a banquet supervisor for Embassy Suites at the North Charleston Convention Center. Peterson’s campaign centers on supporting “the Trump agenda” and “prevent the Democrats from impeaching President Trump”, while also being tough on crime, cutting spending, fighting for Voter ID in elections, and supporting DOGE.

Why is this race important?

Just a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump’s administration attempted to eliminate the veteran congressman’s seat by urging state lawmakers to redraw congressional maps to benefit Republicans. Gov. Henry McMaster called legislators back to Columbia for a special session to do just that on May 16.

Maps are typically redrawn every 10 years, in line with the U.S. Census. This time, the House gave themselves 10 days.

Concerns with the maps mounted, with some lawmakers pointing to the fact that these new maps would be based on population estimates from more than a half-decade earlier, when South Carolina was leading the nation in unprecedented population growth. Others noted that the maps seemed to ignore the social and economic realities of the communities unified under the current districts.

The effort was effectively killed when a dozen Republicans joined 12 of their Democratic colleagues on a procedural motion to kill the bill for the year, citing concerns with invalidating a recording-breaking 45,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting May 26.