Who's In the Race

It's a three-way contest for South Carolina's 6th U.S. House District, with the incumbent Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn running against Republican John Peterson and the Alliance Party's Joseph Oddo. The three candidates advanced from their respective June 9 primaries. Clyburn won his primary with 90 percent of the vote, Peterson captured his party's nomination with 74 percent of the vote, and Oddo ran unopposed in his party's primary.

What They Stand For

Jim Clyburn (Democrat)

Clyburn's signature legislative initiative is his "10-20-30" plan, which directs at least 10 percent of appropriated federal funds to communities where 20 percent or more of the population has lived below the poverty line for 30 or more years, targeting persistent-poverty areas concentrated in the rural South.

He supports restoring and strengthening the Voting Rights Act, including updating the Section 5 preclearance formula that the Supreme Court struck down in *Shelby County v. Holder* in 2013. His campaign frames voter suppression as a growing threat to democracy, a position reflected on both his campaign website and his official House page.

Clyburn supports H.R. 40, a bill that would create a commission to study the economic, educational, and health effects of slavery and subsequent legally sanctioned discrimination on African Americans.

He has also championed increased federal funding for health agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with a focus on expanding access for underserved communities.

On infrastructure, his campaign credits him with delivering $155 million in federal investment to the district, along with authoring the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor and the Gullah-Geechee Heritage Corridor.

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John Peterson (Republican)

Peterson's campaign website lists two explicit priorities: supporting the Trump agenda and preventing Democrats from impeaching President Trump, and voting for fiscally conservative legislation that cuts spending, reduces inflation, and lowers the national debt.

His homepage describes him as "a common sense conservative running for Congress in South Carolina's 6th District." His campaign website did not surface detailed positions on immigration, the Second Amendment, or healthcare in available records.

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Joseph Oddo (Alliance Party)

Oddo's central campaign pledge, which he calls the "True Representation Movement," is to vote on all House bills according to the expressed will of constituents in the district rather than party leadership or donor interests.

He advocates for a 10-point National Election Reform platform focused on financial transparency for candidates, ethical standards for campaign funding, lower barriers to entry for non-major-party candidates, and encouraging ordinary citizens to seek public office. As part of that platform, Oddo calls for candidates to voluntarily impose term limits on themselves to keep elected officials more responsive to constituents, according to his Ballotpedia candidate page.

Beyond his own candidacy, Oddo runs the Citizens Alliance for Better Candidates, an organization that recruits, trains, and campaigns for independent candidates in general elections across the country, to reduce what he describes as institutional stagnation caused by the two major parties.

Race Outlook: Ratings and Betting Markets

Every major race-rating service calls this contest a safe hold for Democrats. The Cook Political Report rated the race "Solid Democratic" as of Sept. 25; Sabato's Crystal Ball issued the same rating as of Sept. 22; and Inside Elections matched that assessment as of Sept. 17.

Prediction market Kalshi put the probability of a Democratic win at 97 percent as of Sept. 28, with the Republican nominee at roughly three percent and the Alliance Party candidate at zero. The market had recorded $43,148 in total trading volume on the race as of that date.

Clyburn won the 6th District with about 60 percent of the vote in 2024 and 62 percent in 2022. The seat is the only Democratic-held House district in the state.

Republicans won six of seven House races and the state's only Senate race in 2022, and five of seven House races in 2024. Donald Trump carried South Carolina with about 58 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election. The 6th District, which includes Columbia and a stretch of the state's rural Lowcountry, has bucked that statewide trend consistently.

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