Democratic state Rep. Joel Lourie was leading attorney Ken Wingate in the race to succeed retiring state Sen. Warren Giese, ending one Senate legacy while potentially advancing another.

Giese has held the seat, which includes Forest Acres, Northeast Richland and portions of Kershaw County, since 1985.

Lourie and Wingate both brought political pedigrees to the race.

Lourie, 42, is the son of the late Isadore Lourie, who served in the state House and Senate from 1964 to 1992. Wingate, 45, is the son-in-law of former Gov. Jim Edwards, who served from 1974 to 1979.

In the Republican primary, Wingate defeated Giese’s son, Barney Giese, solicitor for Richland and Kershaw counties. Then last week, Barney Giese endorsed Lourie to succeed his father.

The race has been the highest-profile State House race in the Midlands. By October, Lourie had raised $342,000, and Wingate $432,000, also making it the most expensive.

Lourie had called the race a referendum on school vouchers, which he opposes.

Wingate was seen as a potential ally for Gov. Mark Sanford in the Senate. Wingate, like Sanford, supports the so-called Put Parents in Charge Act, legislation that would offer tax credits to families to help defray the cost of private school tuition.

Both candidates invoked their legacies in subtle ways during the campaign.

Lourie held a press conference at his family’s law firm last month, standing in front of his father’s portrait in a conference room dedicated in the late lawmaker’s memory. Edwards attended campaign events for Wingate.

Sanford beat Wingate two years ago in the Republican primary for governor but later tapped the attorney to be chairman of his commission on government reform. He campaigned door to door Friday with Wingate in Forest Acres.

Lourie, who has served in the House since 1999, ran on a record of gaining bipartisan support for major legislation including highway- and child-safety initiatives.

Though the two candidates pledged to run clean campaigns, the race turned contentious in the final weeks.

Wingate’s campaign and an outside organization supporting him ran television ads saying Lourie intended to increase education funding by proposing costly tax increases. Lourie said the ads were a distortion of his platform.

Lourie challenged Wingate to denounce the League of the South, a secessionist group that endorsed Wingate during his 2002 run for governor. Wingate never responded to the challenge.