IS POWERFUL INCUMBENT IN TROUBLE? OR IN CONTROL?
Depending on which polling data you choose to accept, powerful S.C. Senate judiciary chairman Larry Martin is either about to get bounced from office … or is on his way to a landslide reelection victory.
Martin – one of several incumbent lawmakers facing primary challenges this month – has represented S.C. Senate District 2 in the socially conservative Upstate region of the Palmetto State (map here) since 1993. Prior to that, the former Democrat served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1979-1992.
Running against him in his bid for a seventh Senate term? Former S.C. Rep. Rex Rice, Afghan War veteran Don Joslyn and retired nuclear technician Allan Quinn.
According to sources close to Joslyn, a recent poll of GOP voters in the district showed him leading Martin by a 39-32 percent margin – with Rice receiving 12 percent support and Quinn stuck at two percent.
Those numbers were challenged by Martin backers, who claim Joslyn is polling in the single digits and that Martin could very well win his primary election with more than fifty percent of the vote.
That would enable him to avoid a runoff election – as South Carolina primary races involving more than two candidates go to runoffs in the event no one eclipses the fifty percent threshold.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
We’ll find out on June 14, when South Carolina voters (well, some of them) go to the polls to participate in partisan primary elections for State House races and local elections.