Kimpson Cakewalks into Senate

Marlon Kimpson easily won the Oct. 1 special election to fill Robert Ford’s former state Senate Dist. 42 seat.
“Easily” might be an understatement. Kimpson garnered 3,111 or 70 percent of the vote. While political newcomer and Libertarian Alex Thornton only garnered 97 votes, or roughly 1.2 percent of the total. Republican Billy Shuman did much better, with nearly 1,500 votes, good enough for 19 percent of the vote, according to state statistics.
That meant that Kimpson, a Democrat and a member of a white-shirt law firm and the only black in the race, pulled in nearly 80 percent, with 6,268 votes.
Dist 42 takes in a chunk of West Ashley before jumping the river to consume the upper peninsula, and then shadow both sides of Interstate 26 to just above the county line. The district was gerrymandered more than a decade ago into a minority-majority district, in that, the majority of the voting-aged public is black. Ford, a Civil Rights veteran, had held the seat for more 30 years.
Ford’s tenure came to a halt this year when he resigned for “health reasons,” while also being investigated for ethics charges that included using political campaign contributions to purchase items at adult shops.
Ford, a former gubernatorial candidate, had teamed in the past with powerful state Republicans on successful efforts to have the Confederate battle flag displayed on Statehouse grounds, and to pair the nation’s MLK Jr. Day with the state’s Confderate Memorial Day on the same day.
Political insiders in Columbia expect Kimpson, a successful litigator, to act more independently than did Ford. Kimpson’s campaign focused on jobs, expanding health care, and improving education in South Carolina.