Lexington, SC (Paul Kirby) - Republican Congressman Joe Wilson seems to have held off Democratic challenger Adair Ford Boroughs to retain his seat in the United States Congress for another two years. Wilson has held the SC-2 seat since 2001. Before being elected to the United States Congress, Wilson served in both the South Carolina House and Senate.
Boroughs was a long shot in this race. The 2nd Congressional District of South Carolina which covers parts of Lexington, Aiken, and Barnwell Counties normally votes approximately 60% Republican and 40% Democrat. This year the record turnout and interest created by the presidential election had people standing in line for days prior to the election to vote early or braving a wait of what some estimated was over two hours to cast their vote on Tuesday, November 3rd. Later in the day, lines grew shorter as voters apparently turned out early to cast their ballots.
Wilson prides himself on his military service and is a champion of veterans who have served their country. He has been a strong supporter of all veterans’ issues and has voiced and voted for unending support for the families of veterans as well.
Congressman Wilson is also very active in international relationships and has traveled to Israel and a number of other countries many times on congressional junkets and fact-finding missions. He has acted as an impartial election monitor in countries that were once part of the former Soviet Union in eastern Europe. He has always been a strong supporter of the defense budget and has worked hard to help South Carolina farmers receive assistance from the Federal Government when needed.
Boroughs is a Stanford educated attorney that formed and runs a nonprofit that provides legal assistance to people who are charged based on their ability to pay. She was raised in a doublewide mobile home in Williston, South Carolina and is the daughter of a cabinet maker and a schoolteacher. Ironically, both of her parents still consider themselves Republicans.
She also identified as a Republican most of her life and worked with the John McCain for President campaign in 2008. She only changed her political affiliation to Democrat sometime after that race. She is considered a moderate Democrat and says she opposes some of the more lightning rod freshman congress members who draw the lion’s share of the media’s attention nationwide due their far-left leanings.
Boroughs often agreed in some ways with Wilson’s opinion but took issue with the service he provides to South Carolinians. She said he had become too far removed from local issues and had been given plenty of time to address issues like the need for internet services in more rural areas. She said if she had been elected, she would work diligently to help areas in SC-2 to find and apply for federal grants that could help improve the lives of the district’s citizens.
Boroughs spent a great deal of money in this race. She worked very hard making the rounds on multiple media outlets and faced off against Wilson in a debate that was held at River Bluff High School in central Lexington County. That debate was televised on Lexington County School District One’s YouTube channel and on WIS-TV.
As the final votes were counted, it became evident that Boroughs did not have what it would take to swing voters from the dominant Republican party to Democrat voters. Her fight and showing were respectable and few predicted she would receive the percentage of the vote that she did.
The vote tally as of 12:06 a.m. with 20% of the precinct counted was 123,017 votes cast for Wilson and 69,004 ballots marked for Boroughs. These numbers could change but it is unlikely there would be enough of a swing to change the outcome of this race.
Comments