Copyright postandcourier
SUMMERVILLE — The Republican race to fill outgoing state Rep. Chris Murphy’s seat in the Legislature will go to a party primary run-off after election night failed to produce a clear victor. The two apparent front-runners — North Charleston businessman Brian Hill and Air Force veteran Greg Ford — will face off again Nov. 18. The winner will move on to face Democrat Sonja Ogletree Satani in a special election to fill the Republican-leaning House District 98 seat on Jan. 6. With all precincts reporting, unofficial results from the S.C. Election Commission show Hill finished roughly seven points short of the 50-percent-plus-one vote threshold needed to avoid the November 18th run-off election. Hill led second-place finisher Ford by a 43 percent to 39 percent margin. Daniel Johnston, the third-place candidate, earned 17 percent of the vote. Johnston, an attorney, was arrested and later pardoned after participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol. On the Democratic side, Ogletree Satani had 57 percent of the vote, finishing over Stephen Kohn, whose Oct. 22 exit from the race came too late for his name to be removed from the ballot. Kohn earned 29 percent; third-place candidate Damian Daly earned 14 percent. On paper, the suburban Lowcountry district — which stretches from the outskirts of Summerville and Dorchester Counter into the northern fringes of Charleston — favors Republicans, with the GOP vote share in the area exceeding Democrats by a double-digit percentage. Ogletree Satani, the Democratic Party’s last nominee for the seat, was defeated by Murphy by 14 points in last November’s general elections in what was the most-competitive general election contest the then-13-year incumbent had ever faced. Murphy resigned from the seat earlier this year, raising hopes from Democrats the seat could potentially be competitive in a special election environment if Republicans failed to produce a moderate nominee similar to Murphy.
