Can SC Dems break statewide losing streak? Superintendent race emerges as top test
In a race between two veteran educators, Sylvia Wright soundly defeated Lisa Ellis on Tuesday to capture the Democratic nomination for state superintendent, according to unofficial returns.
Wright, 45, who most recently worked as a district coordinator in Dorchester School District 4, cruised to a 22-point victory over Ellis in what appears to be the party’s highest turnout primary in at least 40 years, according to state election commission data.
In a message her campaign posted on Facebook just after 10 p.m., Wright thanked her supporters for believing in her vision.
“Together, we built a movement centered on students, educators, and public schools,” she wrote. “Thank you for believing in a brighter future for South Carolina.”
Wright now turns her attention to the general election, where she’ll face Republican state Superintendent Ellen Weaver.
In an ordinary year, Weaver, a private school choice devotee who served as president of the conservative Palmetto Promise Institute prior to becoming superintendent, would be a runaway favorite to win reelection.
But in a midterm election with gas prices hovering near $4 a gallon, everyday expenses continuing to climb and an unpopular Middle East war dragging down the president’s popularity, Democrats see an opportunity to pick up seats.
“I think there’s going to be a big blue wave and I think it’ll have an effect in South Carolina.” said Lachlan McIntosh, a veteran political consultant and former executive director of the state Democratic Party.
McIntosh is quick to qualify that he doesn’t envision Democrats sweeping to power. It’s still South Carolina, after all. But the veteran operative said he’s expecting races to be closer than usual come November.
“We actually have a fighting chance,” he said of South Carolina Democrats. “And that doesn’t happen every election.”
If Democrats were to pull off an improbable upset in any statewide contest, the schools chief race would be one of the leading contenders for them to flip.
National polling shows that voters tend to trust Democrats more than Republicans on education.
And while that preference hasn’t translated into electoral victories for Democratic state superintendent candidates in recent years, there’s evidence that some Republicans split their tickets in the schools chief race.
From 1998 to 2006, at a time when Republicans were beginning to cement their grip on most statewide offices and the General Assembly, voters chose a Democrat as state superintendent in three consecutive elections. The 2006 race, in which Democrat Jim Rex beat Republican Karen Floyd by less than 500 votes, remains the last time a Democrat was elected to statewide office in South Carolina.
Inez Tenenbaum, a Democrat who served as state superintendent from 1999 to 2007, attributed her own electoral success to overwhelming support from South Carolina educators.
“I had the education community behind me,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “And if they get behind a candidate, there are a lot of educators and families of educators. That’s how I won.”
Tenenbaum, who endorsed Wright ahead of Tuesday’s primary, was loath to make any predictions about the Democratic nominee’s chances in November, but said she’d been impressed by the first-time candidate.
“Sylvia is one of the best campaigners I have ever met,” she said. “She’s been all over the state, and she’s just campaigned her heart out.”
Tenenbaum said she was especially heartened by the raucous reception Wright received at the Democratic Party Convention on May 30, and believes the Berkeley County resident has an infectious energy and air of trustworthiness that helps her connect with voters.
But as strong a candidate as Wright may be individually, her fate is likely tied up with that of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jermaine Johnson, McIntosh said.
Johnson, a state representative from Richland County, avoided a runoff Tuesday with a decisive victory over businessman Billy Webster and attorney Mullins McLeod.
“I think for a Democrat to have a chance at other downballot statewide races like state superintendent, they’ve got to really have a strong candidate for governor who can be well-funded and run a robust communications and ground campaign in the fall,” he said.
That’s no knock on Wright, McIntosh said. It’s just the nature of elections in an era dominated by straight ticket voting in which downballot candidates struggle to separate themselves from the top of the ticket.
Twenty years ago, the veteran consultant said, a strong downballot candidate might have been able to outperform the top of the ticket by five points. Today, they’d be lucky to exceed it by a point or two.
Ellis, who in conceding Tuesday night promised to do anything she could to help Wright between now and November, was an exception in that respect four years ago. Despite losing to Weaver by nearly 13 points in the 2022 general election, the SC for Ed founder outperformed Joe Cunningham, the Democratic candidate for governor, by nearly 30,000 votes that year.
Walt Whetsell, a Republican political strategist, isn’t convinced that a political novice like Wright can overcome the incumbent.
While Whetsell acknowledged that Republicans are in for some tighter races than normal this November — especially in the state House — he said he’s of the mind that a candidate’s strength matters more than a party’s strength.
“I still think people vote for the person,” Whetsell said. “And I don’t know who the Democratic nominee is. I couldn’t name him or her. That’s a problem.”
Weaver, on the other hand, is a known quantity. She’s strong inside the party and voters are pleased with the progress she’s made while in office, he said.
“Ellen will have some money, she’ll have a real campaign, she’s got a record now,” Whetsell said. “It’s uphill, in my mind, for a Democrat to sneak up on us there.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Can SC Dems break statewide losing streak? Superintendent race emerges as top test."