South Carolina Democrats chose their challenger to U.S. Sen. Tim Scott in a night of primary, runoff and special election contests in seven states.
State Rep. Krystle Matthews defeated author and activist Catherine Fleming Bruce in a Democratic primary runoff.
With 75% of results reported, Ms. Matthews was ahead of Ms. Bruce 56% to 44%.
Ms. Matthews now faces a tougher battle on the November ballot against Mr. Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican member. Mr. Scott remains popular with voters in the deeply conservative state and was elected to his first full term in 2016 with 60% of the vote.
Democrats made a vigorous effort to flip a South Carolina U.S. Senate seat in 2020, but Republican incumbent Lindsey Graham defeated Jaime Harrison, now the Democratic National Committee chair, by more than 10 percentage points.
Mr. Scott was first elected to the Senate in 2014 in a special election to fill a vacancy left by Jim DeMint, who left Congress to serve as president of the conservative Heritage Foundation. Mr. Scott beat Democrat Joyce Dickerson in that race 61% to 37%.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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