Live Results: Sanford vs. Colbert Busch

Posted: 5/07/2013 3:00 pm EDT | Updated: 5/14/2013 12:25 pm EDT

South Carolina's 1st Congressional District is holding a special election to fill the seat vacated by Republican Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate. Mark Sanford (R), the former governor, is running against businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D).

Colbert Busch Sanford
100% reporting
45.2%
64,961
54.0%
77,600
County-by-county
Beaufort
100% reporting
46.8%
15,936
52.6%
17,896
Berkeley
100% reporting
38.3%
9,510
60.9%
15,137
Charleston
100% reporting
49.1%
31,310
50.2%
32,019
Colleton
100% reporting
29.3%
115
69.2%
272
Dorchester
100% reporting
39.4%
8,090
59.7%
12,276
Sanford leads
Colbert Busch leads
Tie
No results
Area of detail South Carolina 1st Congressional District

The candidates

Sanford Mark Sanford (R) held this seat from 1995 to 2001 before serving as the governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. In 2009 he admitted to lying about having an affair with an Argentinian woman, to whom he is now engaged.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D), an administrator at Clemson University, Colbert busch has not run for office before. Her campaign fundraising has outpaced Sanford's, helped in part by appearances by her brother Stephen Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report."

Green Party candidate Eugene Platt is also on the ballot.

How we got here

  • Nov. 6, 2012

    Tim Scott (R) wins the South Carolina 1st District House race with 62% of the vote.

  • Jan. 2, 2013

    Scott leaves the House when he is appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jim DeMint.

  • March 19

    Mark Sanford gets the most votes in the Republican primary (37%), but because he does not garner over 50%, Sanford and runner-up Curtis Bostic move on to a runoff.

    Elizabeth Colbert Busch easily wins the Democratic primary with 96% of the vote.

  • April 2

    Sanford wins the GOP primary runoff, 57% to Bostic's 43%.

  • May 7

    Sanford and Colbert Busch face off in the special general election.

Past results

The district has been represented by a Republican in Congress since Thomas F. Hartnett won the seat in 1980. Mark Sanford previously represented the district from 1995 to 2001. Tim Scott won the past two elections for the seat before being appointed to the Senate.

Republican Democrat Other
There was no Democratic candidate in
1996, 1998, 2002 or 2004

Sources: South Carolina State Election Commission, The Associated Press, the Federal Election Commission, the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Photos: Getty Images.

By Jay Boice, Aaron Bycoffe and Andrei Scheinkman