By Abraham Kenmore
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s only Democrat in Congress, officially filed for re-election Monday for the 6th District that spans 14 counties.
The state’s longest-serving U.S. House member was among candidates to sign a party pledge and pay the filing fee to run in the June 11 GOP and Democrat primaries. The two-week window opened Saturday and continues until noon April 1.
All 170 seats in the South Carolina Legislature (124 in the House, 46 in the Senate) are on the ballot this year, along with the seven U.S. House seats, 10 of the 16 solicitors, and various local offices. Neither U.S. Senate seat is up for re-election.
The 83-year-old Clyburn, first elected to the House in 1992, is expected to easily win re-election to a 17th term.
Two Republicans, Duke Buckner and Justin Scott, have so far filed to challenge him for the state’s only safely Democratic seat in Congress. It runs from Columbia, Clyburn’s home, south to Charleston and extends from rural counties on the state’s southern border with Georgia to rural Williamsburg County in the Pee Dee.
“I have asked my daughters when I reach my final resting place, I want a tombstone just big enough for the following inscription: ‘He did his damndest to make this country’s greatness accessible and affordable to all,” he said in a roughly one-hour speech after filing.
Accomplishments he touched on included creation of the Lake Marion regional water district in 1994 to provide clean drinking water to residents in water deserts, and recent bipartisan efforts to expand broadband in the state, thanks largely to federal aid he championed.
In February, Clyburn announced stepping down from his leadership position to take a more active role in the campaign to re-elect President Joe Biden, who credits Clyburn’s 2020 endorsement with him winning the White House. But Clyburn made clear in February he was running to keep his seat.
Clyburn, who turns 84 in July, told reporters Monday he had not yet decided whether he will run again in 2026. He said he’s taking it one term at a time.
He did say he is optimistic about the chances of a Democrat flipping the coastal 1st District back to blue.
Democrat Joe Cunningham held it for a single term before Republican Rep. Nancy Mace put it back into the Republican column in 2020.
She is seeking a third term, this time touting an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. But she’ll have to get past a primary against former state agency director Catherine Templeton.
“You can’t win until you win,” Clyburn said. “I can remember when there was no chance for a Republican to get elected. Now they’ve got six of the seven (U.S. House) seats.”
The 1st District is the only one won by former Gov. Nikki Haley in the Feb. 24 GOP presidential primary. Statewide, Trump won 60% of the vote, beating Haley by 20 percentage points. But she got a majority of votes in the 1st District, with 52.5% in that six-county district.
Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
