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Third-term state state senator Katrina Shealy was defeated in a runoff election on Tuesday evening (June 25, 2024) by Lexington County attorney Carlisle Kennedy in a hotly contested South Carolina Senate election.
Shealy’s votes and rhetoric during the prolonged abortion policy debate in the Palmetto State put her in political peril – earning her an official censure from her home county’s GOP in 2023. In a runoff race,
Kennedy’s victory eliminates the last of South Carolina’s GOP “sister senators,” an all-female, bipartisan group of senators who made national headlines – and received a John F. Kennedy profile in courage award – for “filibuster(ing) a near-total abortion ban.” Republican senators Penry Gustafson and Sandy Senn lost their primary elections earlier this month.
A fourth sister senator – independent Mia McLeod of Richland County – declined to seek reelection.
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Lexington GOP voters showed their displeasure with Shealy in the June 11 primary election by sending her to a runoff after she earned just just over 40 percent of the vote. In the Palmetto State, if no candidate receives a majority of votes on the primary ballot the top two finishers advance to a head-to-head runoff election two weeks later. Runoffs are unique to partisan primaries, by the way. There is no runoff requirement in the general election in November.
Shealy’s vote total two weeks ago fell well shy of the margin necessary to avoid a runoff. Kennedy finished the initial election in second with 36.2 percent and was trailed by Zoe Warren, who won 23.75 percent of the vote.
Shealy fared worse on Tuesday night in her head-to-head battle with Kennedy, drawing 37.53 percent of the vote. Only 2,921 GOP voters cast ballots for Shealy – well below the 4,359 who pulled the lever for her two weeks ago.
(Click to view)
As for Kennedy, he was backed by 4,863 GOP voters in the district – good for 62.47 percent of all ballots cast. Kennedy received nearly 1,000 votes more than he did during the first round of voting – clearly benefiting from Warren’s endorsement.
“I have gotten to know Carlisle through this hard fought campaign,” Warren said following the primary two weeks ago. “I have listened carefully to his public positions and have made note of the commitments that he has made”
Warren noted that Kennedy “has committed to Lexington County Republicans that he will uphold the platform.”
Warren further noted that Kennedy promised to support “personhood as defined in the SC Republican party platform” and cited his purported willingness to “take a strong stand for the sovereignty of South Carolina by promoting policies that will preserve statehood.”
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Kennedy touted his family’s deep Midlands roots, campaigning on his ancestor Josiah Padget‘s participation in the American Revolutionary War in Butler’s Company of the South Carolina Militia – as well as both of his grandfathers’ service in the second world war. Kennedy’s website also highlighted his father Ralph Kennedy‘s role in leading the Batesburg-Leesville school board to pass a resolution stating schools may not “prohibit a student from voluntarily delivering an invocation or prayer before school events.”
Interestingly, the extensive section of the website dedicate to Kennedy’s father failed to mention his former role as a state representative. During his tenure in the S.C. General Assembly, Ralph Kennedy sat on the judiciary committee and ascended to the position of assistant majority whip within the GOP caucus.
Kennedy’s website also noted his work experience “from chicken houses to financial wealth management and criminal prosecution” – but failed to reference his appointment by lawmakers to the S.C. Commission on Consumer Affairs.
Online omissions aside, Kennedy was abundantly clear when asked by the Lexington Ledger why he decided to run against Shealy.
“I don’t believe she is a true conservative, and her voting record reflects that,” he said. “When you look at her voting record closely, you’ll see she often gets away from true conservative principles and votes like a moderate liberal.”
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Kennedy scored multiple key conservative endorsements during the campaign, including the back ing of S.C. Freedom Caucus members Jay Kilmartin and chairman R.J. May.
“Our senate needs a change,” Kilmartin said. “We need senators who stand for life, conservative values, the Republican platform and for fiscal responsibility.”
“Democrats would like nothing more than to see Katrina Shealy back in office and we can’t let that happen,” May wrote in his endorsement.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the trust you have placed in me by electing me as your next state senator,” Kennedy told supporters on election night. “This victory would not have been possible without the unwavering support of each and every one of you.”
“I would also like to thank senator Shealy for her years of service to our community,” he added.
“My goal is to make sure our community and our state are a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” Kennedy continued. “I will uphold our conservative principles and make sure your voices are heard. I am excited about the journey ahead and eager to get to work on behalf of all of you.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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6 comments
Lexington County voters showed Katrina the door. She had been in their Senate seat for far too long! Same goes for Penry Gustafson and Sandy Senn in their respective counties! I guess male and female voters finally had enough of vagina identity politics, also known as, “You had better vote for us because we are women”. The three of you did a terrible job of representing your gender in the political arena.
Despite your rather common attempts at playing the victim, you showed contempt for The Constitution you all swore to uphold, in particular, The Second Amendment. Katrina and Penry played games with their constituents, going along with the likes of Luke Rankin and others who sought to water down or even gut attempts to restore rights long wrongfully taken from South Carolina citizens, both in 2021 when they threw citizens a dry bone as a decoy with “open carry with permit” instead of the permitless or Constitutional Carry bill citizens wanted; and in 2024 when they both went along with multiple distasteful “amendments” designed to derail or gut the Constitutional Carry train, once again. Sandy Senn, has solidly fought against our Constitutional rights, voting consistently against any attempts to restore our rights anytime such an initiative comes up. All three were fine with an amendment to elevate themselves to a level of Royalty above us mere peasants, never speaking out against the amendment to allow Legislators to carry unrestricted, while the people who elected them and pay their salary are forced to disarm in a variety of places, commonly known as Gun Free Zones, which are among the most favored placed for attacks by “active shooter” terrorists, probably because they realize nobody is likely to have the means to stop them before police finally arrive. Anyhow, hopefully the three of you now have a good education in the political costs of not upholding your oath of office as you contemplate your return to private life among the peasants you once delighted in feeling you were above.
While there is work to be done and more Royalty deserving of losing their seats in our Legislature, the loss of these three little princesses has somewhat restored my faith in the electoral process and The People’s ability to use it to fix problems.
This guy showed up at my house a couple weeks ago, my first impression was fratboy douche-nozzle. I didn’t vote for him, and I didn’t vote against him… at this point voting really doesn’t matter for local races.
The system didn’t work – the system is rigged remember? Kennedy Lied, cheated and literally stole this election. I am quite sure he did the same with Shealys ballots as he did with her signs. If the lie to get in they will lie when they get in. Good luck Lexington County – and you might get his gay Dad out of that swingers club in BL
Congratulations Mr. Kennedy
Now can we just get someone with some bona fide far-right credentials to step forward and convince Joe Wilson that he needs to step down and allow new blood to come in…and if he refuses then primary him. He largely served well for most of his career, but a Republican with the solid electorate majority that he has enjoyed for decades really should be out front leading the charge in rolling back the federal government and “swinging for the fence” in these battles on the Hill. Instead he’s like a sasquatch riding a unicorn [i.e. – can’t find him or see him anywhere] unless it involved funding the neocon deep state war machine funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, Syria, and now Ukraine. [I say this as a former long-time neocon myself who saw the light in about 10-11 yrs ago.] It’s like after his famous “You Lie” outburst against Obama, he was taken to the wood shed by the national press and he’s been too much of a wimp to speak out ever since.
Did anyone see her interview on WIS-TV after conceding to Kennedy? Talk about a bitter, nasty, and arrogant old woman! As with Jake, her one time opponent and now chum, we are far better off now without “Jake in a skirt”. I hope Mr Kennedy will be an improvement with respect to supporting pro-2A legislation and not pushing for frivolous, unnecessary, laws that stand to ruin more lives, as Katrina was doing. Hopefully, at a minimum, he is not a man-hater as she was. Katrina felt like we could never have enough government in our lives.