Meet the Candidates
It’s 2026…
Who’s running?
May 14, 2026. The SC General Assembly plan to redraw the Congressional District maps mid-cycle has flipped again, with Governor McMaster calling for a special session beginning immediately. Initially, McMaster said he would not call the special session, but after the state Senate failed to reach the ⅔ majority to call the session, McMaster reversed his position.
The revised map follows a call from President Trump for states to redraw maps to increase Republican districts. In South Carolina, that would change our single Democratic District and make the state’s seven districts all Republican.
District 5, which currently covers all of York County, would see the County split, with the Fort Mill area pushed into a different district. Note that this would not affect the candidacy of Mallory Dittmer or Andrew Clough, the two Democrats running for Congress in the 5th, because Congressional Reps aren’t required to live in the district they represent. They must live in the State.
BREAKING NEWS
About this page…
Meet the Candidates is a series of web pages that we hope will give you a good idea of what to expect on your York County ballot for the June 9 Primary and November 3 General Election. See our Voting in York County page for more details on things like Early Voting and Polling Places.
Ballot details have settled down after the candidate filing period ended on May 31, while the races themselves are heating up. We know who’s running for every office (except Lt. Governor – that office is elected along with Governor, and most candidates for Governor haven’t announced their running mate yet).
It’s important to note that the YCDP does not endorse candidates for the Primary. We attempt to list all Democratic Party candidates equally. These pages are designed to show you who’s running, and give you links to the candidate’s own web pages and social media. Of course there is a ton of news stories and other media that we can’t even try to keep track of.
Other places to look
The SC Votes Candidate Tracker shows all the candidates, but it’s a little confusing 😕. You’ll be presented with a bunch of drop-down boxes and several choices. Among them, you’ll have to choose between the Primary and General election (and make several more choices), and choosing Primary gives you a different result than choosing General. Most Primary candidates also appear in the General list and vice versa, but not all of them are on both lists 😵, so best to look at both. Third Party candidates do not have a primary, so only appear on the General Election list.
You can keep up on Ballotpedia, which reports candidates who have filed some form of paperwork, but perhaps haven’t actually filed run, like Bill Bledsoe. Wikipedia has even more detailed information, but may be less up-to-date, listing candidates who declared but never actually filed. This Meet the Candidates listing is up to date and complete.
Money in Politics:
SPOILER ALERT: Republicans raise a lot more than Democrats in South Carolina
Check out this FEC page, for Federal election fundraising totals – it’s eye-opening👁. The link takes you to the US House candidates in SC5, where the reports for the first quarter of 2026 (through March 31) are now listed. Yes, Republican Wes Climer, the Republican running for Congress from SC 5 has raked in over $750k💰, while Democratic competitor Mallory Dittmer raised about $80,000. Perhaps this will encourage you to open your checkbook (do you still use a checkbook?)
State Candidates report here. These reports cover every candidate and public official in the state from Governor to dog catcher, searched by last name (only). It’s a little hard to search — common names bring up dozens or hundreds of listings — but once you find your target, again, it’s eye opening and there is a lot of detail. Look hard enough and find the names of every contributor, and how much they gave. Of course this isn’t the dark money that goes to PACs, just what people are willing to be accountable for (or didn’t realize they were being reported in public records).
To request an update or report an error on this website, contact YCDPTV@gmail.com.