South Carolina held its major party primaries on June 8. Two candidates appeared on the Democratic ballot for U.S. Senate. They were Vic Rawl, a four-term state legislator, and Alvin Greene, a 32-year-old soldier. Virtually every political observer in the state expected Rawls to win. He had a vigorous campaign and was raising money for the general election. Greene had no web page and no visible campaign.
But, Greene won. The Working Families Party, a ballot-qualified party in South Carolina, nominates by convention, as all of South Carolina’s minor parties do. The Working Families Party had held its state convention on May 15, and was so certain that Rawl would be the winner of the Democratic primary, that it had went ahead and nominated Rawl as well. The Working Families Party generally gets itself on the ballot only in states which allow fusion, which is the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. The Working Families Party generally nominates people who are also Democratic Party nominees.
South Carolina, although it permits fusion, has a law that says if a party nominates a candidate, and that candidate then tries and fails to get the nomination of another party, the first nomination for that candidate is canceled. So, Rawl not only lost the Democratic nomination; he can’t appear on the November ballot as the Working Families nominee either.
The South Carolina Democratic Party is trying to persuade Greene to withdraw. See this story. However, Greene says he won’t withdraw.
The only other candidates likely to be on the November ballot are the Republican incumbent, Jim DeMint, and the Green Party nominee, Tom Clements.