COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson has won reelection to U.S. House District 2, holding off a strong challenge from Democrat Adair Boroughs to retain his seat that resides in the center of the state.
The contest has been one of the most serious challenges to Wilson since he first took office 19 years ago. Unlike in previous contests, he faced a well-funded opponent who was able to spend significantly in a bid to oust him.
During the campaign Boroughs emphasized her roots growing up in the small Barnwell County town of Williston, and tried to portray Wilson as a longtime politician out of touch with voters. Wilson’s campaign responded by tying Boroughs to liberal national politicians.
Since being redistricted in 2012, the Seconds District contains the following Midlands counties – all of Lexington, Aiken, Barnwell, along with most of Richland (minus a large portion of Columbia and Lower Richland County) and parts of Orangeburg. The district is predominantly white and conservative and has been Republican since 1965.
Wilson has held the seat since 2001 when he won a special election after the death of Floyd Spence, who died a few months after being elected to a 16th term. Wilson, 73, has been reelected seven times and is famous for shouting “You lie” during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in 2009. As of the 113th Congress, Wilson sits on the Committee of Armed Services, the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and is a member of the Tea Party Caucus.
The closest race the Lexington Republican faced was in 2008 and 2010 when Wilson faced off against Democratic nominee and Iraq War veteran Rob Miller. Wilson won 54% to 46% in 2008 and 53% to 44% in 2010. However, that was before redistricting that made the race more favorable to Wilson.
Boroughs is a relative newcomer to politics. She was a math teacher at Mauldin High School in Greenville County before earning a law degree from Stanford Law School. Her legal career includes working at the US Department of Justice, where she fought against corporate and millionaire tax evaders, and then in 2013, she began clerking for US District Judge Richard M Gergel in Charleston where she worked on the US v Dylan Roof murder case. In 2016, Adair helped launch the nonprofit law firm, Charleston Legal Access, that provides legal services to those who do not qualify for free legal services but cannot afford to pay private attorneys.