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by WILL FOLKS
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Former South Carolina state senator Lee Bright is campaigning for the legislative seat he previously held for two terms – hoping to complete a political comeback which has eluded him for nearly a decade.
Bright was elected to represent S.C. Senate District 12 (.pdf) in 2008 – and reelected four years later as the Tea Party movement in the Palmetto State reached its zenith. In 2016, however, Bright was narrowly defeated by former senator Scott Talley in a Republican runoff election. Two years after losing his seat, Bright was beaten again by William Timmons in another GOP runoff election – this time for the U.S. fourth district congressional seat.
Last spring, Bright ran unsuccessfully for S.C. Senate District 12 – losing to then-state representative Roger Nutt in (you guessed it) yet another Republican runoff.
South Carolina law dictates that if no candidate receives a majority of votes on the first partisan primary ballot, a runoff election between the top two vote-getters is held two weeks later. The runoff election has been Bright’s downfall – as he finished in first place in each of the three GOP primary races he would later lose in the head-to-head runoff phase.
In other words, were it not for the runoff requirement… Bright would have never lost an election.
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Could this be the year Bright gets the “runoff monkey” off his back?
Earlier this month, Nutt announced his resignation due to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Two candidates – state representative Bobby Cox and former Spartanburg County clerk Hope Blackley – moved quickly to enter the race to fill his soon-to-be-vacant seat. Shortly thereafter, Nutt announced his endorsement of Cox.
Bright, 55, of Greer, S.C. is campaigning on his staunch pro-life bona fides, as well as his support for Second Amendment rights and what he terms a “proven record” of protecting America’s borders. He is also highlighting his prior tenure in the S.C. Senate, where he “repeatedly filibustered bloated budgets to force cuts in spending.”
Bright is expected to bring a large and loyal conservative grassroots following to the race – something which could work to his advantage in a special election – where voter turnout is typically lower than it is during primary and general elections.
Will it be enough to push him across the finish line? We shall see…
Filing for this special election opens at 12:00 p.m. EDT this coming Friday (August 29, 2025 ) and will close at the same time on Saturday, September 6, 2025. A special partisan primary election for this seat is currently scheduled for Tuesday, October 21, 2025, with partisan runoffs scheduled for two weeks later – on November 4, 2025. The special election itself would be held on December 23, 2025.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Not this moron again. Good grief.
Exactly