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Democrat Keishan Scott Handily Wins Special Election [1]

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Date: 2025-06-04

Hopeful Prelude to Campaign 2026 “Blue Wave” – Democrat Keishan Scott “Y uu ge ly” Wins South Carolina Special Election– June 4, 2025

Yes, I know that many of us are still in the political dumps about Demagogue Donald getting re-elected in November, 2024. We are also disheartened over the GOP having a majority in the House and Senate. However, based on our special election track record since Trump’s re-election, Democratic odds for a takeover of the House and for getting more Senate seats are quite encouraging. To quote the 2008 campaign slogan of Barack Obama, Democratic voters are “All fired up and ready to go.” https://www.obama.org/stories/edith-childs/ Let’s look at the latest special election victory we have posted. On June 3, 2025, Black Democrat Keishan Scott trounced his Black GOP rival William Oden to win the South Carolina House in District 50.With all the votes counted, Scott “bigly” clobbered Oden by a 41.26% margin, 70.63%-29.37%. https://www.wltx.com/article/news/politics/south-carolina-election-results-june-3/101/-19692dbe-f9d4-4a3d-973a-ecee44020606

Let’s now focus on this contest.

The Palmetto State 50th House District includes all of Lee County, and parts of Kershaw and Sumter Counties, according to the “South Carolina Daily Gazette.” https://scdailygazette.com/2025/06/03/24-year-old-city-council-member-wins-sc-house-race/ The Almanac of American Politics states that the 50th lies in SC’s 5th Congressional District which is represented in the U.S. House by GOP Cong. Ralph Norman. The SC 5th has a Cook Partisan Index (PVI) of R+12. https://www.almanacofamericanpolitics.com , National Journal, 2023, pp. 1674-1677. However, “The Downballot” noted that this special legislative election was the first one in 2025 to take place in a district with a large Black population. “The Downballot” stated that according to Dave’s Redistricting App, 51% of the 50th’s voting-age population is African American, while 44% is White. The SC House 50th, “The Downballot” also noted, is a largely rural constituency based in SC’s Midlands in the central part of that state. https://www.the-downballot.com/p/democrats-just-turned-in-a-massive

Twenty-four year old Keishan Scott was born and raised in Lee County SC. Wikipedia stated that at age 12 he published the Christian book “Keys to the Kingdom.” He is also an ordained minister. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keishan_Scott According to Wikipedia, in 2019, Scott graduated at the same time from Lee Central High School and from Central Carolina Technical College with an Associate’s degree. He followed this with a 2023 magna cum laude degree from the University of South Carolina in social work. He works as a paralegal and is a board member for the Lee County Council on Aging. In addition, he was the third vice president for the Lee County NAACP branch. He is secretary for the Lee County Democratic Party. In 2023, Scott was elected to the Bishopville City Council and became its youngest member at age 22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keishan_Scott

According to “The South Carolina Daily Gazette,”this special election was held to replace the vacancy left in the 50th SC House District when the previous Democrat Rep. Will Wheeler resigned his seat just three days into the present legislative session. The 50th was then left without a representative for all of this year’s session. https://scdailygazette.com/2025/06/03/24-year-old-city-council-member-wins-sc-house-race/

Scott ran his campaign on a platform of ensuring equitable access to healthcare, education reform, and economic growth, wistv noted. https://wistv.com/2025/06/04/live-results-house-district-50-special-election/

Scott, according to “The South Carolina DailyGazette” will be the youngest person elected to the State House since a 22-year-old GOPer, Brandon Newton won in 2016. https://scdailygazette.com/2025/06/03/24-year-old-city-council-member-wins-sc-house-race/

And Scott’s 41% victory margin was a “ y uu ge” overperformance. In 2024, Kamala Harris only won this district by 5 points, 51%-46%. Scott’s special election, win “The Downballot,” also noted, may have stopped and reversed the rightward shift in the 50th, which in 2020 had given Biden a 57%-42% or 15% spread. https://www.thedownballot.com/p/democrats-just-turned-in-a-massive In these special election races, Democrats in 2025 have, according to “The Downballot,” run more than 13 points ahead of the top of the Harris ticket. https://www.thedownballot.com/p/democrats-just-turned-in-a-massive

Pundits have noted that this is a very good omen for “Team Blue” going into the 2026 midterms. However, that result will occur only if our base shows up in droves. In the Scott special election, turnout was VERY low. Only about 3,500 people showed up at the polls, Daily Kos noted. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/3/2325879/-A-blue-wave-is-a-comin-Dem-romps-in-a-SC-special-election?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_so…

Scott will be heavily outnumbered in the Palmetto State GOP- dominated House, but every Democratic win throughout the nation counts. Congratulations, SC State House winner Scott!





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[1] Url: https://dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/4/2326048/-Democrat-Keishan-Scott-Handily-Wins-Special-Election?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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