How to keep up with who has filed for office
Want to find out who is running for what office? The S.C. Election Commission offers a great candidate tracking tool that you can massage to find out who is running in specific districts — or everyone who is running.
As of 7 a.m. Friday, some 449 candidates had filed for offices throughout the state, including Congress, S.C. House, S.C. Senate and local elections. Of note:
Congress: U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford has a GOP primary opponent — S.C. Rep. Jenny Horne. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn has a general election opponent, Republican Laura Sterling of Bluffton.
Senate: Incumbents already with primary challengers include GOP Sens. Larry Martin of Pickens, Tom Corbin of Travelers Rest, Mike Fair of Greenville, Lee Bright of Spartanburg, Harvey Peeler of Gaffney, Wes Hayes of Rock Hill, Hugh Leatherman of Florence and Luke Rankin of Conway, Democratic Sen. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston has primary opposition by former Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston.
To track candidates, go to this page and click “view” in the Statewide Primaries and General Elections tab. Then you can narrow what you’re looking for by county, party, office or name by filling in any of the appropriate blanks. If you want to see all candidates who have filed, fill in none of the blanks and hit “search.”
Filing opened March 16 and closes at noon March 30.
Bill introduced to standardize business licenses
Businesses in South Carolina may soon find it easier to renew their business license because of legislation introduced this week.
According to the Municipal Association of South Carolina, The SC Business License Tax Standardization Act (H 5109) is intended to make doing business with cities and towns easier by streamlining the process of renewing business licenses. This bill meets the goal of the business community to standardize practices across the state and the goal of cities to be more business-friendly. Representative Kenny Bingham (R-Lexington) is the primary sponsor of the bill.
“We certainly understand the frustrations expressed by the business community when they point to the wide variety of processes across cities and towns in South Carolina related to renewing a business license,” said Miriam Hair, executive director of the Municipal Association. “Imagine a landscaper working in multiple cities. He may be dealing with a variety of business licensing processes, forms and due dates in each jurisdiction. This legislation standardizes these processes and makes available a payment portal for businesses to pay the tax to multiple cities and towns at one time.” More info.
The Mystery of the Beauty Queens solved
Thanks to S.C. Rep. Richie Yow, R-Chesterfield, for sharing why some young beauty queens were getting their photos taken on the Statehouse steps last week. Seems as if they are all from Chesterfield County and were visiting the Statehouse to get a certificate of appreciate for their volunteer work.
“There is a lot more to the story as these young ladies all have helped in some way in the community — from feeding our veterans to collecting items for flood victims,” he said. “Great photo!”
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!