Trump-backed Republican Russel Fry wins SC 7th House seat

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) —

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Russel Fry, a Republican who toppled five-term U.S. Rep Tom Rice in South Carolina’s 7th House district with backing from former President Donald Trump, has won election to Congress.

Fry, a state representative, handily defeated Democratic challenger Daryl Scott in the general election. The incumbent Rice had become a focus of Trump’s scorn for the congressman’s impeachment vote after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.

It marks the first time in 10 years that voters in the district will send a new elected official to Washington, D.C.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is seeking to hang on to her Charleston-area U.S. House seat in Tuesday’s election after control of that South Carolina district has seesawed in recent years between Democrats and the GOP.

The freshman congresswoman faces challenger Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who supports access to abortions in the red state and greater restrictions on guns in a bid to stop waves of U.S. shooting violence. Meanwhile, the national inflation rate has made for unfriendly headwinds for the incumbent president’s party.

South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District has been on a pendulum ride since 2018. Democrat Joe Cunningham, who is now running for governor, won the 1st District seat that year before losing to Mace in the following election.

Mace won a Republican primary earlier this year that had become a test of former President Donald Trump’s influence after he had endorsed her primary opponent.

But Trump’s influence held up in the GOP primary in the state’s 7th Congressional District, where state GOP representative Russel Fry advanced to face Democratic challenger Daryl Scott in Tuesday’s general election.

With Trump’s backing, Fry ousted five-term Rep. Tom Rice in the June primary. Rice was the first of the 10 House Republicans to lose a reelection bid after he had voted to impeach Trump after the U.S. Capitol riots.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and the state’s lone congressional Democrat, won his sixteenth term. He faced Republican attorney Duke Buckner in the 6th District.

In the 2nd District, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson — who has held onto his seat since 2001 — won reelection against Democratic challenger Judd Larkins.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan is running unopposed and set to win his seventh term serving the 3rd District.

In the 4th District, Republican U.S. Rep. William Tennis faces Independent write-in candidate Lee Turner after the Democratic nominee withdrew from the race.

In the 5th District, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman defeated Democrat Evangeline Hundley, a real estate agent.

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