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 County results Sanford: 50–60% 60–70% Moore: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The2006 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. IncumbentRepublicanGovernorMark Sanford won re-election againstDemocraticState SenatorTommy Moore, becoming only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term (Robert Kingston Scott andCarroll A. Campbell Jr. were the others). Sanford started the campaign with a double-digit edge over Moore and he maintained that lead to election day. During the campaign, Sanford's approval rating averaged in the mid-fifties.[1] In Sanford's re-election victory, he also garnered 22% of the African American vote.
Tommy Moore, aState Senator from western South Carolina, emerged withFlorence Mayor Frank Willis as the major candidates in the Democraticprimary election for governor. Rumors circulated that Superintendent of Education and formerU.S. Senate candidate,Inez Tenenbaum, might enter the race, but she ultimately chose not to run for governor nor seek re-election to her position.Kenneth Holland, a formerU.S. Representative fromthe 5th congressional district, briefly entered the race, but dropped out a month later after failing to raise enough financial contributions.
Moore and Willis traded barbs over campaign contributions made by Willis and his wife to prominent Republicans, including PresidentGeorge W. Bush and SenatorLindsey Graham. Attorney C. Dennis Aughtry entered the campaign at the eleventh hour and floated the idea of legalizing casinos statewide to raise money for public schools. Moore garnered more than 50% of the vote in the Democratic primary held on June 13 and thus avoided arunoff election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Tommy Moore | 88,092 | 63.68 | |
| Democratic | Frank Willis | 42,317 | 30.59 | |
| Democratic | C. Dennis Aughtry | 7,934 | 5.74 | |
| Total votes | 138,343 | 100 | ||
Portending a sign of trouble, incumbentGovernorMark Sanford faced aprimary challenge fromOscar Lovelace, aphysician from theMidlands. When former GovernorDavid Beasley ran forre-election in 1998, he faced a primary challenge and went on to lose the general election toJim Hodges. Sanford's veto of a heart center forLexington County and theatrics such as bringing pigs to theStatehouse to show his displeasure ofpork barrel spending by theGeneral Assembly angered and annoyed many Republicans. However, Sanford's strategy of avoiding Lovelace and refusal to debate worked as the governor scored a decisive victory in the primary on June 13.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Sanford (incumbent) | 160,238 | 64.80 | |
| Republican | Oscar Lovelace | 87,043 | 35.20 | |
| Total votes | 247,281 | 100 | ||
Governor Mark Sanford proposed three major issues in his campaign for re-election, chief among them being the restructuring of state government. He wanted to reduce the number of statewide elected officials from nine to three and eliminate the state's Budget and Control Board. The governor insisted that these measures would reduce the number of redundant positions and make state government both more efficient and less costly. Sanford's three major issues for the campaign were:
State Senator Tommy Moore ran as a good manager of state government. He held socially conservative and fiscally moderate positions, which put him squarely at odds with thelibertarian incumbent. Moore disagreed with what he believed was Sanford's condescending and combative approach of dealing with the General Assembly. The senator also believed that Sanford lacked leadership skills, and that lack of leadership had brought South Carolina to a standstill over the past four years in his view. The main policy proposals that he developed were:
On July 7, several weeks after the primary election,Lexington CountyState SenatorJake Knotts launched a last-minute effort to place his name on the ballot as a petition candidate for governor. He had feuded with Governor Sanford over a number of issues, including the heart center for Lexington County, and supported Lovelace in the Republican primary. In order to be on the ballot in November, Knotts needed to collect 10,000 signatures of registered voters by July 17, which he failed to do. Knotts's political consultant publicly stated that he could not have raised enough money to have run a successful candidacy.
There were two trains of thought on the effects of a candidacy by Knotts. It was generally believed that had Knotts entered the race, it would have split the Republican vote and helped elect Tommy Moore. However, because those who supported Knotts went on to support Moore, it was also argued that a Knotts candidacy would have in fact deprived Moore of both votes and money.
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[4] | Likely R | November 6, 2006 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[5] | Safe R | November 6, 2006 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[6] | Safe R | November 2, 2006 |
| Real Clear Politics[7] | Safe R | November 6, 2006 |
| Source | Date | Tommy Moore (D) | Mark Sanford (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey USA[8] | November 5, 2006 | 40% | 57% |
| Palmetto Poll[9] | October 26, 2006 | 31% | 58% |
| Rasmussen[10] | October 25, 2006 | 34% | 57% |
| Survey USA[11] | October 17, 2006 | 41% | 56% |
| Survey USA[12] | September 28, 2006 | 46% | 50% |
| Survey USA[13] | September 20, 2006 | 41% | 54% |
| Rasmussen[14] | September 10, 2006 | 38% | 51% |
| Rasmussen[15] | August 4, 2006 | 38% | 47% |
| Rasmussen[16] | June 23, 2006 | 39% | 51% |
| Rasmussen[17] | May 10, 2006 | 33% | 52% |
| Rasmussen[18] | February 17, 2006 | 36% | 49% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Sanford (incumbent) | 601,868 | 55.12% | +2.2% | |
| Democratic | Tommy Moore | 489,076 | 44.79% | −2.2% | |
| Independent | Write-ins | 1,008 | 0.1% | ||
| Majority | 112,792 | 10.3% | +4.4% | ||
| Turnout | 1,091,952 | 44.5% | −9.6% | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
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