2017 South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election

A special election was held on June 20, 2017, to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for South Carolina's 5th congressional district. Representative Mick Mulvaney was nominated by President Donald Trump as director of the Office of Management and Budget and confirmed by the United States Senate on February 16, 2017, necessitating his resignation from the House of Representatives.^[1][2]

2017 South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election

← 2016 June 20, 2017 2018 →
South Carolina's 5th congressional district
Turnout	18.34%
Nominee Ralph Norman Archie Parnell Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 45,076 42,341 Percentage 51.0% 47.9%
County results Precinct results Norman:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Parnell:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      50%      No votes
U.S. Representative before election Mick Mulvaney Republican Elected U.S. Representative Ralph Norman Republican

State Representative Ralph Norman narrowly defeated Archie Parnell, a senior advisor for Goldman Sachs, 51.0% to 47.9%, in a low-turnout election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Chad Connelly, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party^[3]
• Ray Craig, international ministry aid worker
• Sheri Few, education activist, candidate for Superintendent of Education in 2014 and state house candidate in 2006, 2008 and 2010^[4]
• Tom Mullikin, attorney and commander of the South Carolina State Guard^[5]
• Ralph Norman, state representative^[6]
• Tommy Pope, state representative^[7]
• Kris Wampler, attorney^[8]

Declined

• Penry Gustafson, former businesswoman and community advocate of Camden, SC^[9]
• Gary Simrill, state representative^[10]

Endorsements

Tommy Pope

• Trey Gowdy, U.S. representative^[11]

Ralph Norman

Individuals

• Ted Cruz, senator from Texas^[12]
• Jim DeMint, former senator from South Carolina^[13]
• Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations^[14]
• Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin^[15]
• Joe Wilson, U.S. representative^[16]

Organizations

• Club for Growth Action, conservative super PAC^[17]

Chad Connelly

• Jeff Duncan, U.S. representative^[18]

Tom Mullikin

• Al Simpson, chief of staff to former U.S. representative Mick Mulvaney^[19]

First round

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Chad Connelly	Sheri Few	Tom Mullikin	Ralph Norman	Tommy Pope	Kris Wampler	Other	Undecided
Atlantic Research and Media of North Carolina[20]*	February 25, 2017	239	± 6.2%	1%	9%	8%	11%	19%	0%	—	51%
Remington Research Group[21]	January 7–8, 2017	778	± 3.4%	9%	—	—	9%	25%	—	6%[22]	52%

*Internal survey for the Sheri Few campaign

Results

Results by county:

  Norman

•   20–30%
•   30–40%

  Pope

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

  Mullikin

•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Connelly

•   60–70%

South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election Republican primary, 2017^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tommy Pope	11,943	30.4%
	Republican	Ralph Norman	11,808	30.1%
	Republican	Tom Mullikin	7,759	19.8%
	Republican	Chad Connelly	5,546	14.1%
	Republican	Sheri Few	1,930	4.9%
	Republican	Kris Wampler	197	0.5%
	Republican	Ray Craig	87	0.2%
Total votes			39,270	100.00%

Runoff

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Ralph Norman	Tommy Pope	Undecided
Trafalgar Group[24]	May 8–10, 2017	1000+	± 3.1%	46%	45%	9%

Results

Results by county:

  Norman

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Pope

•   50–60%

South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election Republican primary runoff, 2017^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Norman	17,823	50.31%
	Republican	Tommy Pope	17,602	49.69%
Total votes			35,425	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Alexis Frank, recent college graduate and Army veteran^[26]
• Les Murphy, United States Marine Corps veteran^[27]
• Archie Parnell, Goldman Sachs senior adviser^[28]

Declined

• John King, state representative^[29]
• Thomas McElveen, state senator^[29]
• Mandy Powers Norrell, state representative^[29]
• Fran Person, nominee for this seat in 2016^[29]
• Vincent Sheheen, state senator and nominee for governor in 2010 and 2014^[30]

Results

Results by county:

  Parnell

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election Democratic primary, 2017

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Archie Parnell	13,333	71.3%
	Democratic	Alexis Frank	4,030	21.5%
	Democratic	Les Murphy	1,346	7.2%
Total votes			18,709	100.00%

Libertarian Party

Candidates

Nominated

• Victor Kocher^[31]

Eliminated at convention

The Libertarian Party nominating convention was held on April 1, 2017.^[32]

• Bill Bledsoe
• Nathaniel Cooper

Green Party

Candidates

Nominated

• David Kulma, professor at Winthrop University and musician^[33]

General election

Candidates

• Victor Kocher (Libertarian)
• David Kulma (Green)
• Ralph Norman (Republican)
• Archie Parnell (Democratic)
• Josh Thornton (American)

Endorsements

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Ralph Norman (R)	Archie Parnell (D)	Other	Undecided
Change Research[34]	June 14–18, 2017	872	± 3%	53%	44%	3%	–
Gravis Marketing[35]	May 19–22, 2017	746	± 3.6%	47%	34%	3%	16%
Victory Enterprises/Rampart PAC (R)[36]	May 17–18, 2017	629	± 3.9%	53%	36%	–	11%

Results

South Carolina's 5th congressional district special election, 2017^[37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ralph Norman	45,076	51.04%	−8.03%
	Democratic	Archie Parnell	42,341	47.94%	+9.17%
	American	Josh Thornton	319	0.36%	−1.74%
	Libertarian	Victor Kocher	273	0.31%	N/A
	Green	David Kulma	242	0.27%	N/A
	Write-In	Write-in	65	0.07%	+0.31%
Total votes			88,316	100.0%
	Republican hold

County results

Vote breakdown by county

	Ralph Norman Republican		Archie Parnell Democrat		Total
County	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes
Cherokee	3,367	61.86%	2,031	37.31%	5,443
Chester	1,940	45.20%	2,301	53.61%	4,292
Fairfield	1,125	32.33%	2,314	66.49%	3,480
Kershaw	3,720	52.53%	3,299	46.59%	7,081
Lancaster	6,237	55.07%	4,985	44.02%	11,325
Lee	632	25.54%	1,825	73.74%	2,475
Newberry	1,627	51.07%	1,519	47.68%	3,186
Spartanburg	763	70.98%	302	28.09%	1,075
Sumter	3,757	39.64%	5,671	59.84%	9,477
Union	1,436	50.35%	1,397	48.98%	2,852
York	20,472	54.44%	16,697	44.33%	37,630

See also

• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives