{
 "topic": "senate",
 "site": "electiondata.dev",
 "place": {
  "id": "us-sc",
  "name": "South Carolina",
  "level": "us-state",
  "parent": "usa",
  "path": "us/sc",
  "slug": "sc",
  "state": "sc",
  "state_name": "South Carolina",
  "state_id": "us-sc"
 },
 "question": "How did South Carolina vote for the Senate?",
 "answer": {
  "verdict": "Tim Scott (Republican) won by 25.9 points",
  "value": 25.9,
  "unit": " pts",
  "digits": 1,
  "label": "Senate, 2022: winner's margin",
  "lines": [
   "Tim Scott (Republican) 62.9%, Krystle Matthews (Democrat) 37.0%",
   "1,695,702 votes for Senate candidates"
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2022",
 "as_of_label": "2022",
 "charts": [
  {
   "id": "senate-margin",
   "title": "Every regular Senate election in South Carolina since 1978",
   "description": "16 regular elections; Democrats were ahead in 4 and Republicans in 12.",
   "indicator": "Democratic candidate's share of Senate votes minus the Republican's, points (regular elections; special elections are in the table)",
   "subtitle": "Democratic share minus Republican share, in points. Above the line: the Democrat got more votes.",
   "x": {
    "kind": "year"
   },
   "y": {
    "digits": 1,
    "unit": " pts",
    "format": "party-margin"
   },
   "layers": [
    {
     "type": "bars",
     "name": "Margin",
     "base": 0,
     "points": [
      [
       1978,
       -11.356,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1980,
       40.736,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1984,
       -35.004,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1986,
       27.456,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1990,
       -31.693,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1992,
       3.122,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1996,
       -9.378,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1998,
       7.028,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2002,
       -10.214,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2004,
       -9.565,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2008,
       -15.278,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2010,
       -33.832,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2014,
       -15.483,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2016,
       -23.639,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2020,
       -10.271,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2022,
       -25.869,
       "rep"
      ]
     ],
     "legend": [
      {
       "label": "Democrat ahead",
       "cls": "dem"
      },
      {
       "label": "Republican ahead",
       "cls": "rep"
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Statewide totals say nothing about who voted or why.",
  "Candidates with a party's support under another name (Minnesota's DFL, New York's fusion lines) are counted with that party, as the MIT data's simplified party does; independents stay independents."
 ],
 "method": "Each candidate's votes are summed over every ballot line; blank, over- and under-votes are left out. The margin is the winner's share of the votes minus the runner-up's. A runoff, where held, is the result.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6",
   "url": "https://electiondata.dev/",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  },
  {
   "name": "MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. Senate statewide 1976-2024",
   "url": "https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PEJ5QU",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  }
 ],
 "check": {
  "races": [
   {
    "year": 1978,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 632063,
    "votes": {
     "Strom Thurmond": 351917,
     "Charles D. Ravenel": 280146
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1980,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 870500,
    "votes": {
     "Ernest Fritz Hollings": 612554,
     "Marshall Mays": 257946
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1984,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 965130,
    "votes": {
     "Strom Thurmond": 644815,
     "Melvin Purvis": 306982,
     "Stephen Davis": 13333
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1986,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 737962,
    "votes": {
     "Ernest Fritz Hollings": 465500,
     "Henry D. Mcmaster": 262886,
     "Steven B. Vandervelde": 4789,
     "Ray Hillyard": 4588
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1990,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 750716,
    "votes": {
     "Strom Thurmond": 482032,
     "Bob Cunningham": 244112,
     "William H. Griffin": 13805,
     "Marion C. Metts": 10317
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1992,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1180438,
    "votes": {
     "Ernest F. Hollings": 591030,
     "Tommy Hartnett": 554175,
     "Mark Johnson": 22962,
     "Robert Barnwell Clarkson Ii": 11568
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1996,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1161231,
    "votes": {
     "Strom Thurmond": 619859,
     "Elliot Springs Close": 510951,
     "Richard T. Quillian": 12988,
     "Peter J. Ashy": 9740,
     "Annette C. Estes": 7693
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1998,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1069063,
    "votes": {
     "Ernest F. Hollings": 563377,
     "Bob Inglis": 488238,
     "Richard T. Quillian": 16991
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2002,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1102912,
    "votes": {
     "Lindsey O. Graham": 600010,
     "Alex Sanders": 487359,
     "Ted Adams": 8228,
     "Victor Kocher": 6648
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2004,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1597221,
    "votes": {
     "Jim Demint": 857167,
     "Inez Tenenbaum": 704384,
     "Patrick Tyndall": 13464,
     "Rebekah E. Sutherland": 10678,
     "Tee Ferguson": 5859,
     "Efia Nwangaza": 4383
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2008,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1871431,
    "votes": {
     "Lindsey Graham": 1076534,
     "Bob Conley": 790621
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2010,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1318794,
    "votes": {
     "Jim Demint": 810771,
     "Alvin M. Greene": 364598,
     "Tom Clements": 121472
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1240075,
    "votes": {
     "Lindsey Graham": 672941,
     "Brad Hutto": 480933,
     "Thomas Ravenel": 47588,
     "Victor Kocher": 33839
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": true,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1238982,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Scott": 757215,
     "Joyce Dickerson": 459583,
     "Jill Bossi": 21652
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2016,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2049893,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Scott": 1241609,
     "Thomas Dixon": 757022,
     "Bill Bledsoe": 37482,
     "Rebel Michael Scarborough": 11923
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2515104,
    "votes": {
     "Lindsey Graham": 1369137,
     "Jaime Harrison": 1110828,
     "Bill Bledsoe": 32845
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2022,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1695702,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Scott": 1066274,
     "Krystle Matthews": 627616
    }
   }
  ],
  "dataset": "senate-results",
  "version": "2026-10-25.247421eda6"
 },
 "table": {
  "title": "Every Senate race since 1976",
  "columns": [
   "Race",
   "Winner",
   "Runner-up",
   "Margin",
   "Votes"
  ],
  "num": [
   3,
   4
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "2022",
    "Tim Scott (R) 62.9%",
    "Krystle Matthews (D) 37.0%",
    "25.9 pts",
    "1,695,702"
   ],
   [
    "2020",
    "Lindsey Graham (R) 54.4%",
    "Jaime Harrison (D) 44.2%",
    "10.3 pts",
    "2,515,104"
   ],
   [
    "2016",
    "Tim Scott (R) 60.6%",
    "Thomas Dixon (D) 36.9%",
    "23.6 pts",
    "2,049,893"
   ],
   [
    "2014 special",
    "Tim Scott (R) 61.1%",
    "Joyce Dickerson (D) 37.1%",
    "24.0 pts",
    "1,238,982"
   ],
   [
    "2014",
    "Lindsey Graham (R) 54.3%",
    "Brad Hutto (D) 38.8%",
    "15.5 pts",
    "1,240,075"
   ],
   [
    "2010",
    "Jim Demint (R) 61.5%",
    "Alvin M. Greene (D) 27.6%",
    "33.8 pts",
    "1,318,794"
   ],
   [
    "2008",
    "Lindsey Graham (R) 57.5%",
    "Bob Conley (D) 42.2%",
    "15.3 pts",
    "1,871,431"
   ],
   [
    "2004",
    "Jim Demint (R) 53.7%",
    "Inez Tenenbaum (D) 44.1%",
    "9.6 pts",
    "1,597,221"
   ],
   [
    "2002",
    "Lindsey O. Graham (R) 54.4%",
    "Alex Sanders (D) 44.2%",
    "10.2 pts",
    "1,102,912"
   ],
   [
    "1998",
    "Ernest F. Hollings (D) 52.7%",
    "Bob Inglis (R) 45.7%",
    "7.0 pts",
    "1,069,063"
   ],
   [
    "1996",
    "Strom Thurmond (R) 53.4%",
    "Elliot Springs Close (D) 44.0%",
    "9.4 pts",
    "1,161,231"
   ],
   [
    "1992",
    "Ernest F. Hollings (D) 50.1%",
    "Tommy Hartnett (R) 46.9%",
    "3.1 pts",
    "1,180,438"
   ],
   [
    "1990",
    "Strom Thurmond (R) 64.2%",
    "Bob Cunningham (D) 32.5%",
    "31.7 pts",
    "750,716"
   ],
   [
    "1986",
    "Ernest Fritz Hollings (D) 63.1%",
    "Henry D. Mcmaster (R) 35.6%",
    "27.5 pts",
    "737,962"
   ],
   [
    "1984",
    "Strom Thurmond (R) 66.8%",
    "Melvin Purvis (D) 31.8%",
    "35.0 pts",
    "965,130"
   ],
   [
    "1980",
    "Ernest Fritz Hollings (D) 70.4%",
    "Marshall Mays (R) 29.6%",
    "40.7 pts",
    "870,500"
   ],
   [
    "1978",
    "Strom Thurmond (R) 55.7%",
    "Charles D. Ravenel (D) 44.3%",
    "11.4 pts",
    "632,063"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "api": {
  "now": "/data/places/us-sc/senate.json",
  "source": "https://api.electiondata.dev/v1/senate-results/download/senate-results.csv",
  "source_label": "Every Senate race, every state, from electiondata.dev (live, no key)"
 },
 "generated_at": "2026-10-26T20:05:12+00:00"
}