Six Independent Candidates Elected to South Carolina Legislature

On November 6, six independent candidates were elected to the South Carolina legislature. However, in only one of these six races did the independent candidate beat major party nominees who were running. That was in the State Senate 23rd district. The results in that race are: independent Katrina Shealy 16,662; Republican Jake Knotts 14,271; Constitution Party nominee David Whetsell 1,587.

In the other five races, the independent who won had no major party opponents. These unusual races included four in which the only candidates on the ballot were independents; and one race in which the only two candidates on the ballot were an independent and a Libertarian. That race, for State House in the 26th district, had these results: independent Raye Felder 5,894; Libertarian Jeremy C. Walters 5,239. Walters notes that the State Election Commission webpage, on election night, omitted one of the sixteen precincts in his district, and says that happens to have been his strongest precinct. On November 8 he visited the county election commission and asked to see the full returns, but was not allowed to see them.

The races in which only independents were on the ballot were State House races, in districts 15, 56, 64, and 105. The winners were, respectively, Samuel Rivers, Mike Ryhal, Robert Ridgeway, and Kevin Hardee.

Preliminary Data Suggests More Voters Voted for a Democrat for U.S. House than for a Republican

Ian Millhiser, a Senior Policy Analyst for the Center for American Progress, says that based on preliminary election returns, approximately 500,000 more voters cast a vote for a Democrat than for a Republican, for U.S. House, in this year’s election. But, of course, Republicans won more seats. Millhiser says that gerrymandering is responsible for the Republican House majority. See here.

Millhiser says he omitted all races in which one of the major party candidates didn’t run anyone. That is almost one-eighth of the seats, so that may represent a flaw in Millhiser’s approach. Millhiser does not seem to have added up the U.S. House vote for candidates other than Republicans or Democrats, but it is clear already that neither major party polled a majority of the U.S. House vote. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

New Jersey Socialist Party Secretary Elected to Regional High School Board of Education

On November 6, Pat Noble, who is 19 years old, was elected to the Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education. The high school is in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Noble defeated an incumbent, Nilsa Samol, by a margin of 53.6% to 46.4%. The high school is over a century old and is considered one of the state’s best high schools; see the wikipedia page about the school here.

Noble has been the Secretary of the New Jersey Socialist Party for several years.