THE SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS

The Senate District 25 race between two Edgefield candidates was thought to be a lot closer than things turned out. Though not official, early ballot counts show Republican Shane Massey retaining his seat in the state Senate. “We’re really excited,” Sen. Massey said late Tuesday night. “We had a great team of supporters that got out there and worked hard.”

According to projected counts, Sen. Massey won Edgefield County with over 800 votes, “and we ran big numbers in the Valley,” in Aiken County, Massey said, with an additional 2,700 vote advantage. McCormick County showed the two candidates in a dead heat giving Massey only a five vote lead there. Results in Saluda County were not available at press time; however, with the comfortable lead Sen. Massey said he had already received a concession call from Democrat challenger Greg Anderson by 10pm. (more…)

Shane Martin, who faced some long odds when he opened his state Senate District 13 campaign last fall, rolled into office Tuesday night with a convincing win over Democrat Jimmy Tobias.

“The people got behind me in the primary, and they stayed with me in the general election,” Martin said while celebrating Tuesday night at Wild Wing Cafe. “They took a chance on an engineer from Glenn Springs, and I am proud to represent them.”

With 91 of 92 precincts reporting, Martin received 18,113 votes to 8,812 for Tobias. (more…)

After months of diligent campaigning and back-and-forth ads that at times, got downright ugly….it all came down to Tuesday night.

As ballots poured in…so did the calls, keeping candidates busy tallying the numbers.

Greg Anderson, Democratic Candidate for District 25: “Feeling good, feeling good, good turnout today, everybody’s worked hard, and we’re very optimistic at this point.” (more…)

Though the Democratic Party and President-Elect Obama made gains nationwide, Aiken and surrounding district remain GOP stronghold.

The most hotly contested race involving Aiken County’s state representatives fell to Shane Massey Tuesday night as he beat out democratic challenger Greg Anderson by around 3,500 votes in the State Senate District 25 race.

“I’m glad it’s over, I’m ready to sleep,” joked Massey after his win. “But, I was not elected to sit back and enjoy this. I need to try and stay in touch with people and try to change the status quo.” (more…)