Special elections Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, will two seats in the South Carolina House and one in the Senate. (File photo by Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Voters in parts of Lexington, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties will fill three vacancies in the Statehouse on Tuesday.
But ballots for only one of the three special elections indicate an actual contest.
In an email blast last week, state Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain called the upcoming Statehouse elections — three on Tuesday and a fourth on Jan. 6 — “our chance to show real power.”
She pointed to the Dec. 2 special congressional election in Tennessee as an example for Democrats. In a race that attracted millions of dollars and national attention from political heavyweights in both parties, Republican Matt Van Epps ultimately won by nearly 9 percentage points for a district, as Spain said in her email, “few would’ve called competitive.”
That momentum, she said, is what Democrats are “building right here in South Carolina.”
But in South Carolina, there’s no Democrat on the ballot in two of the four special elections.
In Lexington County, Democrat J. Chuck Hightower and Republican John Lastinger are vying for the state House seat spanning the area between Cayce, Red Bank and Gaston.
The winner of the ruby red district will replace ex-Rep. RJ May, who resigned in August ahead of pleading guilty to distributing videos of children being sexually abused.
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The other two elections Tuesday feature Republican Dianne Mitchell for a Greenville County seat in the House and former Sen. Lee Bright returning to the Senate seat he lost in 2016 representing parts of Spartanburg and Greenville counties.
Their wins are nearly guaranteed, though two Democrats have recently launched write-in campaigns: Dexter Reaves in the House and Steve Evered in the Senate.
Asked about the lack of a contest on those ballots, Spain encouraged Democrats to support the write-in candidates.
“Voting is the best way to send a message to Republicans, loud and clear,” Spain told the SC Daily Gazette. “Every vote counts, and this is the way to make your voice heard.”
Special elections are generally low-turnout events anyway. Lastinger, pastor of The Edge church in Springdale, acknowledged that the timing of this week’s race, just two days before Christmas, presents extra challenges.
It also required some changes to his normal Christmas schedule: His family’s annual Christmas breakfast was Monday instead of Dec. 23.
“We’re doing the same thing we’ve done for the primary and runoff, but just a little harder,” he said of his campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts. “We’re conscious of the challenges and trying not to leave one stone unturned.”
Hightower did not return messages from the SC Daily Gazette.
Lastinger won the GOP nomination in a runoff last month in what started out as a four-way race. Hightower, a retired Army colonel, was the only Democrat to file, so no primary was needed in that party.
May was a founding member and spokesman for the hardline Freedom Caucus that has been feuding with the majority House GOP Caucus. He remains in the Edgefield County jail ahead of his sentencing next month. He faces between five and 20 years in prison for each of five counts.
Lastinger again said Monday he hasn’t made a decision on whether to join the Freedom Caucus that May helped launch in 2022, should he win.
“I’m hoping to bring unity and not division,” he said.
As for May, Lastinger said, the healing process for the people of District 88 begins with the election.
“We may not forget the past, but it doesn’t have to be an anchor that holds us back either,” he said.
A special election Jan. 6 for a state House district representing Dorchester County will ensure the 2026 session opens a week later with all 170 Statehouse seats filled.
That race features two Air Force veterans: Republican Greg Ford and Democrat Sonja Ogletree-Satani.
Republicans hold supermajorities in both Statehouse chambers.
