South Carolina voters have nominated a black Republican state lawmaker for an open congressional seat, rejecting one of the state’s legendary political names.
Tim Scott beat Paul Thurmond, the son of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, in a GOP runoff Tuesday in the state’s coastal 1st District.
Scott is now a heavy favorite in a district that has elected a Republican congressman for three decades. He is poised to become the nation’s first black GOP congressman since 2003 when Oklahoma’s J.C. Watts retired.
The 44-year-old Scott was the first black Republican in the South Carolina legislature in more than a century when elected in 2008. Before that, he served 13 years on Charleston County Council.
Scott faces Democrat Ben Frasier, who also is black.