5 things to know: Straight-party voting, turnout both down in Spartanburg for midterm elections

Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and Secretary of Education-elect Ellen Weaver can thank Spartanburg County voters for helping them to victory on Tuesday.

Spartanburg County cast a higher percentage of votes than the rest of the state in re-electing incumbent Republicans McMaster and Scott and in helping Republican Ellen Weaver withstand a challenge from Democrat Lisa Ellis.

With all precincts and counties reporting, a review of Tuesday's unofficial election results also shows that voter turnout in Spartanburg County was down slightly compared to the last mid-term election in 2018.

Here is a look at some of the key storylines from Tuesday:

McMaster, Weaver, Scott cruise in statewide races

Across South Carolina, McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pam Evette defeated Democratic challenger Joe Cunningham and running mate Tally Parham Casey by a margin of 58.1% to 40.6%. In Spartanburg County, 65.8% went for McMaster and 32.9% for Cunningham.

Statewide, Scott won by a 63% to 37% margin over Democratic challenger Krystle Matthews. In Spartanburg County, 70.3% of the votes went to Scott, and 29.6% for Matthews. And statewide, Weaver defeated Democratic challenger Lisa Ellis, 55.6% to 39.6%. Spartanburg County voters went 61.3% for Weaver and 34.3% for Ellis.

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Incumbents Timmons, Norman win U.S. Congress races

Fourth District Republican incumbent William Timmons easily withstood a write-in campaign by Democrat Lee Turner. Timmons got 57,727 votes, or 94.9%, while there were 3,109 write-in votes cast, or 5.11%. Fifth District Republican incumbent Ralph Norman easily defeated Democratic challenger Evangeline Hundley by a margin of 79.1% to 19.8%.

Unopposed races prominent on Spartanburg County's Statehouse, Council ballots

Republicans on the Spartanburg County ballots were unopposed, including incumbent County Probate Judge Ponda A. Caldwell, Auditor Sharon West and Treasurer Oren Brady; County council members Manning Lynch, Jack Mabry, Bob Walker and Jessica Coker. Also unopposed were state Reps. Max Hyde, District 32; Travis Moore, District 33; Roger Nutt, District 34; Bill Chumley, District 35; Rob Harris, District 36; Steven Long, District 37; and Josiah Magnuson, District 38. The lone Democrat, incumbent District 31 state Rep. Rosalyn Henderson-Myers, was also unopposed.

Of the 124 Statehouse seats on SC ballots in 2022, 58% ran unopposed.

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Straight party voters decrease in Spartanburg County, SC for 2022 midterm

Fewer voters cast straight ballots Tuesday compared to the last midterm election four years ago. Statewide on Tuesday, 569,947 voted straight Republican compared to 327,251 who voted straight Democrat, for a Republican advantage of 62% to 35.6%. In 2018, there were 584,168 straight Republican tickets, or 53.7%, compared to 480,836, or 44.2%, straight Democrat.

In Spartanburg County Tuesday, 40,286 of the 56,864 total straight ballots cast, or 70.9%, were Republican, compared to 15,800 straight Democratic ballots, or 27.8%. In 2018, there were 40,280 Republican straight tickets, or 62.9% of all 64,113 straight ballots, compared to 22,989 straight Democrat ballots, or 35.9%.

2022 midterm turnout lower than 2018 in Spartanburg County

At 50.37%, voter turnout Tuesday statewide was lower than the 2018 mid-term election, which was 55%. In Spartanburg County, turnout Tuesday was 48.1%, and in 2018 turnout was 53.3%.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg County election results: 5 things to know from Tuesday