South Carolina House

2020 Election Update

Heading into the 2020 election, Republicans controlled the South Carolina House 79 to 45.  Democrats lost two seats (HDs 44 and 52) for a net loss of two seats. Republicans now control the chamber 81 to 43. 

The below table shows 2020 and 2018 election results for the South Carolina House. The LDI scores are for the 2020 cycle. EveryDistrict will release new scores and district rankings after the redistricting process.

2018 Election Update

After the 2016 election, Republicans controlled the South Carolina State House 80-44. In the 2018 election, Democrats flipped two seats and lost two seats, resulting in no change to the partisan composition of the chamber.

Democrats flipped HD 15 and HD 117. Democrats lost HD 42 and HD 97.

In September 2020, Democrats flipped a formerly Republican-held district (HD 115) blue. Republicans now control the chamber 79-45.

Understanding the Map

EveryDistrict’s Legislative District Index (LDI) is the gold standard of state legislative competitiveness. Our LDI ranks state legislative districts on a scale from 100 to -100, using statewide elections data. Districts with a score of 100 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Democratic candidate receiving 100% of the vote); districts with a score of -100 would vote for statewide Republican candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Republican candidate receiving 100% of the vote). For a more realistic example, a district with a score of 10 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 10 points (meaning we would expect the Democratic state legislative candidate to win with 55% of the vote compared to the Republican winning 45% of the vote).

After the 2018 election, EveryDistrict reviewed and enhanced our LDI system, improving the accuracy of the metric with new methodologies and the most recent electoral data.

For more information about EveryDistrict’s LDI, please click here.