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Former South Carolina state senator Gerald Malloy – one of eight incumbents to lose his seat in the S.C. Senate during the 2024 election cycle – is considering filing a formal protest of his defeat.
Malloy, a veteran Democrat who campaigned as a “conservative” tax cutter, was vanquished by Republican farmer JD Chaplin in last week’s election for S.C. Senate District 29 – a rural seat which includes all of Marlboro County and parts of Chesterfield, Darlington Lee and Sumter counties.
Chaplin defeated Malloy by a mere 278 votes (out of nearly 50,000 ballots cast) – or at least that was the initial tally recorded by county election offices (and reported to SCVotes.gov). Because the margin of victory was within one percent, a mandatory recount was ordered.
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On Thursday (November 14, 2024), the results of that recount confirmed Chaplin’s victory – albeit by a substantially narrower margin. According to the new numbers, Chaplin received 24,838 votes compared to Malloy’s 24,751 – a spread of just 87 votes.
Four years ago, Malloy defeated Chaplin by nearly 3,200 votes out of nearly 43,000 ballots cast.
In rural Lee County, there was a nearly 200-vote swing in Malloy’s favor – with Chaplin ending up with 129 fewer votes than he received on Election Day and Malloy gaining 59 new votes.
Here is the county-by-county breakdown of the recount…
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- Chesterfield
- Chaplin – 2,334 (13 less votes than election day)
- Malloy – 2,721 (13 less votes than election day)
- Write-In – 6 (same as election day)
- Total – 5,061 (26 less votes than election day)
- Darlington
- Chaplin – 15,968 (2 more votes than election day)
- Malloy – 12,735 (3 more votes than election day)
- Write-In – 36 (2 more votes than election day)
- Total – 28,739 (7 more votes than election day)
- Lee
- Chaplin – 1,245 (129 less than election day)
- Malloy – 3,397 (59 more votes than election day)
- Write-In – 1 (same as election day)
- Total – 4,643 (70 less votes than election day)
- Marlboro
- Chaplin – 4,782 (same as election day)
- Malloy – 5,085 (2 more votes than election day)
- Write-In – 10 (same as election day)
- Total – 9,877 (2 more votes than election day)
- Sumter
- Chaplin – 509 (same as election day)
- Malloy – 813 (same as election day)
- Write-in – 0 (same as election day)
- Total – 1,322 (same as election day)
- TOTAL
- Chaplin – 24,838 (140 less votes than election day)
- Malloy – 24,751 (51 more votes than election day)
- Write-In – 53 (2 more votes than election day)
- Total votes cast – 49,642 (87 less votes than election day)
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What exactly happened in Lee County?
“The county election office is still in the process of determining the cause of the differences,” state election officials told FITSNews.
Nonetheless, the S.C. Board of Canvassers certified the results early Friday – making them official. Should Malloy decide to protest, he would have until 12:00 p.m. EST next Wednesday (November 20, 2024) to lodge his complaint. Election protests – which are heard by the Board of Canvassers – must take place within twenty-five days of them being filed.
Malloy, a powerful lawyer-legislator, was first elected to the Senate in 2002 – filling a seat vacated by the death of veteran trial lawyer Edward Saleeby. He has amassed considerable influence in the intervening two decades, becoming one of the Senate’s most adept parliamentarians.
Malloy was one of four rural Democrats to lose his seat last week, continuing a transformative shift in both the balance of power and ideological composition of the Senate.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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7 comments
The only thing “conservative” about Malloy is his intelligence. Good riddance.
I think we are going to start to witness a blue to red shift in the I-95 corridor counties in state elections due to the black population, which has always been economically liberal but socially conservative, start to move from a DNC that has gone far left marxist and anti-Christian, and in favor of pretty much any kind of sexual debauchery and moral filth you can think of. The number of black pastors in the cotton belt of the south (and that term is not a slur but just a descriptor of geography) that have finally said “enough” has been leading this movement. I’ve met quite a few of them.
I hope Malloy does not wind up back in office. Lake most of our current crop of state Senators, Malloy despises our 2A rights. Begone!
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but does anyone know why incumbent state senator Mike Fanning, who lost by a razor-thin 29 votes out of over 50,000 cast, did not request the automatic recount?
Malloy was the genius behind the raise the age legislation that raised the age of juveniles to 18 from 17 and cased an exponential explosion of violent crimes committed by “juveniles” who could have been prosecuted as adults had the law not changed. He pushed it through along with the rino party against the objection of law enforcement and prosecutors. Good riddance to him and others like him
Of course he’s going to protest, he’s a Democrat and he lost, didn’t he?
Some of you are complete morons and you posts prove it