Two Special Primaries
One Summer 2026
UPDATE: The Early Voting location for the State Senate District 15 Special Primary has changed. See this block for details
ONE: On August 11, 2026, the state of South Carolina will have a Special Republican Primary to replace Lindsey Graham as the Republican Nominee on the November ballot for US Senate. Graham died unexpectedly on July 11.
Democrat Annie Andrews and some third-party candidates are already on that ballot.
TWO: here in York County, our State Senate District 15 will have a Special Primary on September 1 to choose the Democratic Party Nominee in a Special Election to replace State Senator Wes Climer, who is resigning to run for Congress against Mallory Dittmer in the SC 5th Congressional District.
These are completely separate Special Primaries, on separate days. The results of both will determine some of the candidates who will appear on the ballot on Election Day, November 3, 2026.
That’s the tl;dr. This page has the details on both…
Choose your news:
State Senate
Special Primary/
Election for
District 15 in
York County
Special Primary: September 1 (with early voting, runoff if needed)
Head’s up, York County voters in State Senate District 15
This Special Primary and Special Election is to fill a vacancy in the State Senate seat for District 15 because the incumbent State Senator, Republican Wes Climer, is resigning to run for Congress against Democrat Mallory Dittmer in the SC 5th District.
Climer’s resignation is effective November 3. The actual ‘Special Election’ will be part of the General Election on November 3, but because two Democratic candidates have officially filed for the election, there will be a Special Primary on September 1.
In general, State Senate terms run four years, with elections in ‘Presidential’ years, so this is the only election for State Senate this year. The winner will assume office the Monday after the election (November 9, if there is no runoff), and the term will run until January 2029.
Only voters who are registered in SC Senate District 15 will participate in this Special Primary, and only they will see this election on their November 3 ballot. Check your registration at SCVotes.gov to see if you are in the District.
Where is District 15?
State Senate District 15 is located entirely inside York County. It is carefully gerrymandered to include the Republican areas of western and northern Rock HIll, the Lake Wylie area, and the City of York. It does not include Fort Mill.
Only voters who are registered in District 15 will see this election on their ballot. Check your registration at SCVotes.gov to see if you are in the District.
Why a Special Election and Primary? (we’ll get to when…)
The incumbent State Senator, Republican Wes Climer, has resigned the seat (effective November 3) and is running against Democratic candidate Mallory Dittmer for US House District 5, the seat vacated by Ralph Norman in his failed bid for the Republican nomination for Governor (note that Norman has announced that he’s seeking the nomination for US Senate in the Special Republican Primary following the death of Lindsey Graham).
Climer’s resignation from his State Senate seat is ‘irrevocable’, so when he loses the election for US House to Mallory Dittmer, he can’t return to his State Senate seat. The remaining term for this seat will be about two years, until the State Senate session in 2029 — State Senators have four-year terms, and elections are held in ‘Presidential’ years.
OK… When? (and stay tuned for Who? later on this page)
The actual election day is November 3, 2026… yes, that’s the date of the General Election for everything else this year. That stemmed from a deal Climer reached with the State Senate to avoid some of the expense of a separate, really ‘special’ election (an nice gesture, blown to pieces by current events).
The Special Primary is what really affects the election calendar. Here are the details:
Candidate filing period (now closed): Noon, July 10 – Noon, July 18, 2026
Two candidates – Chad Williams and Monika White – have filed for the Democratic nomination.
Only James Burns has filed for the Republican nomination.
The SC Votes Candidate Listing is always a good source for official information on candidates.
Special Primary: September 1, 2026
Since two Democratic candidates have officially filed, there will also be a Special Primary on September 1, with early voting the week before (see below).
Special primary runoff: September 15, 2026 (if needed)
Only two candidates have filed, so unless there is an unusual write-in campaign, one of them is sure to exceed 50% of the vote, so no runoff.
Early Voting? 🥱
Now that two Democrats have filed, we know there will be a Special Primary. The York County website has this web page with updated dates and locations. It says:
Voter registration deadline:
Sunday, August 2, 2026 (mail-in registration forms will be accepted if postmarked by Monday, August 3, 2026).
Early voting period – Special Primary:
Monday, August 17 – Friday, August 28, 2026 (Monday- Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.). Weekdays only (closed Saturday and Sunday)
Make a note of this… two weeks of early voting. Interesting, because the SC Election Commission is only scheduling three days of early voting for that Republican Special Primary to replace Lindsey Graham on the ballot.
Early voting period – Special Primary Runoff (if needed):
Wednesday, September 9 – Friday, September 11, 2026
(Monday- Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)
Early voting location for Special Primary and Special Runoff:
UPDATE: on July 21,YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson posted a bulletin she received that CHANGED THE LOCATION of Early Voting for this Special Primary.
The bulletin said that “This change in early voting venues was implemented after the sudden passing of the late U.S. Senator, Lindsey Graham, to accommodate consistent early voting locations for each special primary held on Aug. 11 (US Senate) and Sept. 1 (SC Senate 15).”
TWO of the three Early Voting locations recently used in York County are now listed for Early Voting:
Fire Training Center of York County
2500 McFarland Rd,York, SC 29745Staybridge Suites at Galleria Mall
493 Galleria Blvd, Rock Hill, SC 2973Convenient if you live in SC Senate District 15 but work in Rock Hill
As of July 28, the update is not reflected on the statewide SCVotes.gov/news page. It still only had the old announcement of the original location.
Board of Voter Registration & Elections Office of York County, 6 South Congress Street, Suite 1201, York, SC
this is the York County Government building in the City of York (which is in District 15). Note that this office has not been part of early voting in recent election cycles, but it is the only early voting site listed for this Special Primary
The Early Voting locations used last June, and for the Special Republican Primary in August, are not part of this Special Primary. They are not located in State Senate District 15.
As usual, the polls on the day of this Special Primary will be at your Precinct voting location (check your voter registration).
And since the ‘Special Election’ itself is part of the General Election on November 3, all the early voting and location data applies.
Who’s Running 🏃🏾♂️🏃♂️🏃🏾♀️🏃♀️?
Candidate filing is closed. Democrats Chad Williams and Monika White have officially filed. They now appear on our Meet the Candidates page for State Senate and House. James Burns remains the only Republican candidate.
As always, the YCDP does not endorse Democratic candidates ahead of a Primary. We attempt to list all qualified candidates equally. If we missed a candidate announcement, let us know at ycdptv@gmail.com.
to replace
Lindsey Graham
as the
Republican Candidate
for Senate
Special Primary
Special Republican Primary: August 11
Runoff: August 25
Incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly on July 11, was up for re-election to the US Senate in 2026. He had cleared the Primary bar with 57% of the vote and avoided a runoff, and was set to be on the November 3 ballot as the Republican candidate.
While Governor McMaster appointed Graham’s sister, Darlene Graham Nordone, to serve out the term until next January, SC election law requires a Special Primary to replace him on the November ballot. That Special Primary is set for August 11, and the all-but-inevitable runoff will be August 25.
Nordone was expected to be a ‘placeholder’ , unlikely to run in the Special Primary – a notion that was upset on Friday, July 17, when Trump endorsed her and encouraged her to run for the seat in November. On July 20, Nordone announced that she will run for the full six-year term. Even so, eleven other candidates filed for the Special Primary by the time filing closed on July 28.
Three of those candidates were disqualified! One was because he did not have a South Carolina residence (just some property). Two were because the SC Republican Party instituted a new rule on July 1 requiring potential candidates to have voted in the Republican Primary in two of the past three Primary elections, and two of the candidates who had filed had not done that 😮. By the way, the SC Democratic Party does not have a similar requirement, but there are a few other requirements.
Follow the candidates on the ballot yourself using the SCVotes Candidate Listing web page.
Who can vote in the Special Primary?
Spoiler alert: not Democrats
On July 15, the SC Election Commission decided to follow a precedent from a 1992 court decision and allow only voters who took a Republican ballot — or who did not vote at all — in the June Primary to vote in this Special Primary. The SCDP appears to agree and will not be fighting this decision. See this story in the Post & Courier.
Dates, times, locations
Candidate filing (closed): Noon July 21 through noon July 28, 2026
The filing fee for this office is $10,440, just in case you were thinking about it as a fun thing to do this summer
Special Primary: August 11, 2026
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at your usual Precinct polling location
Early Voting for the Special Primary: three days — Wednesday, August 5 through Friday, August 7, 2026
8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Locations (same as the June Primary locations):
Fire Training Center of York County: 2500 McFarland Road, York, SC 29745
Carolinas Cornerstone: 1790 Gardendale Road, Fort Mill, SC 29708
Holiday Inn Rock Hill: 503 Galleria Blvd Meeting Rooms Rock Hill, SC 29730
Runoff (if needed, and quite likely): August 25, 2026
Early voting for the Runoff: another three days — Wednesday, August 19 through Friday, August 21, 2026
Times and locations are the same as for early voting for the Special Primary