Primary races decided today

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who will represent their party

in the November election.

South Carolina voters go to the polls today to decide who will be on the November ticket for the Democratic and Republican parties. Both parties have a primary race to decide who will represent them in the fall election to fill the U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Ernest F. Hollings.

Here in the 4th Congressional District, voters in both parties also will pick the candidate whose name will appear on the November ballot to fill the seat that has been held for six years by Congressman Jim DeMint.

Republicans are voting in five Greenville County Council districts and to select a replacement for Greenville County Register of Deeds Judy Hix. And in Senate District 7, incumbent Sen. Ralph Anderson has an opponent in the Democratic primary.

South Carolina is an open primary state, meaning voters decide each primary season if they want to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary. Some of these races could require a runoff in two weeks because no candidate won a majority of votes. In that case, a person could not vote in the Republican primary if he or she had voted in the Democratic primary today.

On our editorial page over the past two weeks, The Greenville News has made these endorsements in the primaries of the two parties:

U.S. Senate, Republican — In the heavily contested Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Hollings, The News has endorsed 4th District Rep. Jim DeMint. Other candidates in the primary are David Beasley, Charlie Condon, Orly Benny Davis, Mark McBride and Thomas Ravenel.

U.S. Senate, Democrat — In the Democratic primary, this newspaper recommended Inez Tenenbaum, currently this state's superintendent of education.

Fourth District Congress, Republican — In this three-way race, The News has endorsed Bob Inglis, who held this position from 1992-1998, over Carole Wells and Jack Adams.

Fourth District Congress, Democrat — The News recommended Andrew Wittman over Brandon Brown.

State Senate 7 — In this Democratic primary, The News recommended the re-election of Sen. Ralph Anderson over political newcomer Debra Gammons.

Greenville County Register of Deeds — Judy Hix is retiring after holding this office for eight years. She has endorsed Tim Nanney as the best qualified candidate, and this newspaper has, too. Nanney is running against John Bell and Warren Rollins.

Greenville County Council — Republicans are voting in five County Council districts today in which the incumbents have opposition. In these races, The News has endorsed Hayne Hipp over Scott Case in District 20, Perry Williams over Steve Selby and Tony Trout in District 18, Jim Burns over Phyllis Henderson in District 21, Bob Taylor over Bill Browning in District 22 and Butch Kirven over Dozier Brooks in District 27.