Vote 2022: 3 Races for SC House in Lexington County Are Competitive

The Chronicle has assembled a guide to what will be on ballots in Lexington County in the November election. Find the full guide at lexingtonchronicle.com.

District 88

This is the only district contained fully within Lexington County to draw both a Republican and Democrat for the 2022 election.

Republican RJ May said he is running for a second term to continue to fulfill his promise to “make government more accountable and more responsive to the people it serves.”

“We've got to continue to make government smaller, leaner and more efficient,” he said, adding he feels like progress is being made there in the Statehouse through the Freedom Caucus, a body which he co-founded and serves on as vice chair. He called the caucus a group of some of the S.C. House’s most conservative members.

He touted being ranked among the most influential people on The Post and Courier Columbia’s 2022 Power List and emphasized eliminating cronyism in the Statehouse as a key concern.

May positioned himself as standing against the “Woke Left,” who he said are “moving on a lot of aspects of our society and attempt[ing] to indoctrinate, whether that be in the classroom or through the medical sexualization of our children by pushing brutal or horrific gender mutilation.”

Democrat challenger Daniel Shrief has worked as an insurance broker for 30 years.

He said he wants to “serve the people in my district as a moderate Democrat.”

Shrief cited key challenges and concerns for the state House of Representatives as “school safety, raising qualified teachers’ pay, food programs for children of needy families.”

“Would set up concerned citizens meetings for input form all parents and hopefully get business involved in getting actual solutions and programs to get this done,” he said.

He also noted that there needs to be more attention paid to paving roads.

District 93

This district also drew both a Republican and a Democrat, but large portions of it are contained in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties.

Democrat Russell Ott said he is running to keep the seat he has held since 2013 to continue “providing good, strong leadership and representation ... work[ing] with everyone ... across party lines.”

He said that he feels he has brought an articulate rural voice that is important at the Statehouse, making sure the issues of such areas are heard and addressed.

He currently serves on the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, and he co-chaired the Public Utility Review Committee looking into the VC Summer nuclear power plant debacle and that his work with those issues continues with a “bunch of stuff like that on the horizon.”

Another concern he spotlighted is balancing growth and the high-paying jobs it can bring to his area while making sure it doesn’t lose its appeal.

“I think that one of the challenges we're going to continue to have is trying to balance the rural fabric of our community with the opportunities for economic development,” he said. “Obviously we are seeing a lot of growth coming out of Columbia and from Charleston, and we're kind of in the middle. That brings pros and cons.”

Republican challenger Jim Ulmer said he is running “to make life and Calhoun, Lexington and Orangeburg counties better.”

“As a Republican, it will be much easier for me to work with the leadership in the Legislature and with the governor than for someone else to do so,” he said.

He previously ran for the seat in 2002 and 2004.

He’s the chair of the Orangeburg County Republican Party and serves on the executive committee and finance committee of the state GOP.

Abortion was the first issue he brought up when asked about his concerns, followed by family court reform, improving education and reducing crime.

“The right to life needs to be defended on a state level more than ever before since Roe v. Wade was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. I will do this,” he said. “We need to defend developing babies’ right to live as well as work on quality of life for all as well as end of life issues; we must actually protect life from pre-cradle to grave.”

District 85

In this district, which is opening with the retirement of longtime state Rep. Chip Huggins, Republican Jay Kilmartin faces a Libertarian challenge from John Davis.

Davis, the director of cyber security at a medium-sized consulting firm, said he is running because he feels “strongly that as long as you are not hurting anyone you should be allowed to do whatever you want in your own house,” specifically mentioning cannabis reform as the catalyst that led to him pursuing the seat.

“South Carolina is so far behind the times when it comes to cannabis,” he said. “Cannabis should have been legalized ages ago, especially for medicinal purposes.  It disgusts me that the current lawmakers can see people suffering from treatable illnesses and just ignore them.  All they do is make it worse by keeping archaic laws in place that punish people for seeking non-addictive homeopathic treatment.”

He also said abortion is a key issue for him and that he would look to “reduce the number of abortions sought and performed; provide access to safe and effective medical treatment in family planning; improve safety nets for expectant mothers; engage fathers, partners, and families to support mothers and children.”

Kilmartin said he chose to run for the seat because he “realized the Republican Primary needed a staunchly conservative option for District 85.”

He owns two restaurants and a cigar store and said he has been a “citizen activist” for more than a decade.

“I reluctantly and prayerfully made the decision to run for the state house. I have no political ambitions other than to make the South Carolina state house more conservative, fight the overreaching federal government and represent the constituents of my conservative district as best I can.”

He said he hopes to continue Huggins’ “tremendous tradition” of constituent services.

“The biggest challenge is to get citizens to pay attention,” he said. “I believe we are in the mess we are in because politicians have no accountability. The influencers at the state house are strong and need to be countered with real concerns from the people in the district. I’m begging people to pay attention.”