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Associated Press
COLUMBIA--All 170 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs this year, and many incumbents faced no opposition Tuesday. But there were some races outside the Lowcountry being watched around the state.
One of those involves Ken Wingate, who chaired Gov. Mark Sanford's commission on state reform, who was running for a Columbia-area seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Warren Giese.
With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Wingate was leading with 58 percent of the vote.
Wingate, who ran against Sanford in the GOP gubernatorial primary two years ago, faces Barney Giese, who wants to replace his father after serving nine years as solicitor for Richland and Kershaw counties.
Wingate tried to combat the name recognition by spending twice as much money on the campaign. He said he spent $200,000 mostly on television ads, mail-outs and signs, and that puts him on "equal footing" with Giese, who said he spent about $90,000.
Another interesting race was that of House District 69, in which the late U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence's son was in a GOP primary against incumbent Ted Pitts, R-Lexington.
With 41 percent of precincts reporting, Pitts was leading with 63 percent of the vote to Spence's 37 percent.
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