South Carolina's 1st Congressional District - History

History

The district was a Democratic stronghold after the Reconstruction era due to the disfranchisement of African-American citizens in 1896 under the new state constitution, as was the state until party realignments in the late 20th century. Since the buildup of the military, especially the Navy in the region, the area's white voters have supported conservative candidates.

After the end of Reconstruction and the Democrats' disfranchisement of African-American citizens in 1896, the Republican Party was no longer competitive in the state. Black citizens had no political voice until after gaining federal support and legislation for enforcement of their constitutional rights through the Civil Rights Movement.

A Republican was not elected to a full term in this district until 1980, when Tommy Hartnett was swept in by Reagan's coattails. His election represented a major realignment of white conservative voters with the Republican, rather than the Democratic Party. Starting with national candidates in the late 1960s and 1970s, white voters in South Carolina began to shift to the Republican Party. In 2008, with the appeal of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, Democrat Linda Ketner came within two points of winning the 1st district congressional seat. Just two years later, Republican Tim Scott won the seat with 65 percent of the vote.

Following redistricting after 1990, most of Charleston's African-American majority areas were shifted in 1992 to South Carolina's 6th Congressional District. Since President Lyndon B. Johnson gained passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s enforcing constitutional rights of African Americans, the majority have voted for Democratic candidates, but in the South, a few have shifted to the Republican Party.