Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford took an enormous amount of heat in 2009 for an affair with his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, to whom he is currently engaged. The politician famously told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail after inexplicably disappearing for several days; it was later revealed that he was actually in Buenos Aires visiting Chapur. He and his wife Jenny subsequently filed for divorce. But […]

As the special election in South Carolina’s 1st District looms, the once-lopsided race seems to have tightened considerably. Just two weeks ago, a poll had Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert-Busch leading former Republican governor Mark Sanford by a comfortable 9-point margin. Now, with two days left in the campaign, the congressional contenders appear to be in a dead heat. Sanford’s surge has taken many by surprise given his penchant for personal […]

The race for South Carolina’s First Congressional District became more interesting today when House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) endorsed the GOP nominee and former SC Governor Mark Sanford. The heavy endorsement from the Speaker may be what the Sanford campaign needs to open the floodgates for future endorsements. In a statement from Boehner’s office (as first reported by The Hill): “This election offers the voters of South Carolina’s First Congressional District […]

There were obviously some hard feelings left after the two-week Republican primary runoff campaign in South Carolina’s 1st District special election. After former Gov. Mark Sanford got 57 percent of the vote to win the GOP nomination, his Republican rival’s son took to Twitter to say that he wouldn’t support Sanford in the May 7 election against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch. However, the defeated candidate himself showed grace in the […]

CHARLESTON, S.C. Daniel Bostic, the son of Republican congressional candidate Curtis Bostic, took to Twitter to make clear that he won’t support former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who won the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s 1st District runoff election. “No — I will not be supporting Mark Sanford] in any way,” the young Bostic tweeted shortly after news organizations called the race for Sanford. The 20-year-old actor said that he […]

CHARLESTON, S.C. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET in today’s runoff vote for the Republican nomination in South Carolina’s 1st District special election. Former Gov. Mark Sanford and former Charleston County councilman Curtis Bostic are running to face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the May 7 election to fill the House seat vacated by the appointment of Tim Scott to the Senate. The South Carolina State Election Commission page is […]

Editor’s Note (April 3rd, 2013 2:55PM ET): In this item published yesterday, ViralRead staff asked whether an article by Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt about the South Carolina congressional runoff campaign had borrowed a projected turnout number — 45,000 — used in a previous Washington Post article by Sean Sullivan. And just how he came to the exact same opposite conclusion… After e-mail communication with Isenstadt’s editor at Politico, we have been told that Isenstadt’s article was based on independent reporting, and […]

CHARLESTON, S.C. Republicans crowded into a Hilton Head restaurant Monday afternoon to hear Republican congressional candidates Curtis Bostic and Mark Sanford discuss issues in their final meeting before Tuesday’s runoff in the 1st District special election. The two candidates took questions for more than an hour during the “First Monday” forum at Aunt Chilada’s, a day before voters in the Lowcountry district choose the GOP nominee who will face Democrat […]

The Fix is in: Mark Sanford will win tomorrow’s special election in South Carolina First Congressional District. POLITICO expects a Sanford v. Elizabeth Colbert-Busch South Carolina showdown as well. Bruce Smith of the SC State Wire for the AP echoes a similar prediction in his headline. Although, the article itself paints a more chaotic picture. However if social media means anything, an independent (and largely untested) social media analysis gives Curtis […]

CHARLESTON, S.C. Two days before special-election runoff for South Carolina’s 1st District Republican nomination, the two campaigns are making their closing arguments while staffers and volunteers are hard at work in the get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort. Former Gov. Mark Sanford took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s Post and Courier, Charleston’s leading newspaper. The ad features a large photo of the candidate and his four sons, and his closing argument hits […]