The Winner

Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) won a fifth term in South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Democrat Courtney McClain 51.7% to 45.7%. Libertarian Jessica Ethridge took 2.5%. With more than 99% of votes counted, Timmons led McClain 146,944 to 129,742, a margin of 17,202 votes, according to Associated Press election results. The AP called the race at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on election night. ​

Timmons returns to a House where Democrats hold the majority, leaving him in the minority party next term. The shift will cost him his gavel as chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee.

The Race

Timmons’ 6-point margin was far narrower than in 2024, when he beat Democrat Kathryn Harvey 59.7% to 37.2% under the same district lines. In the Tuesday, June 9 Republican primary, he won 65.8% of the vote against David Atchley and Robert Lee, according to Ballotpedia’s race overview. McClain, an activist with a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and a graduate degree from Howard University, ran unopposed, so the Democratic primary was canceled.

Before the election, Cook Political Report and Inside Elections rated the race Solid Republican, and Sabato’s Crystal Ballrated it Safe Republican.

The district is the most compact in the state and covers most of Greenville and Spartanburg counties, according to the SC Daily Gazette. It is home to about 765,400 people, with a median household income of about $72,700. About 36.1% of adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and about 12.4% of residents live below the poverty line. The population is about 65.6% white, 17.6% Black, 11.4% Hispanic and 2.6% Asian.

What’s Next

Timmons’ new term begins Sunday, Jan. 3. His SNAP Fraud Accountability Act, introduced Tuesday, Sept. 1, would lower the value of benefits that triggers criminal penalties for SNAP fraud from $5,000 to $1,000. The bill has no cosponsors and remains in committee, so it will expire when the current Congress ends unless Congress passes it first.

---

AllCiv makes it easy to stay politically informed and involved.

---

Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article