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Five black candidates run for seat vacated by Lloyd

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Five of the six candidates running for the Circuit Court seat formerly held by U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd are black.

If a black candidate wins the seat, it will mark the first election of a black judge since Lloyd was approved in 2003.

That has some in the legal community worried the at-large seat has been earmarked for a black judge, keeping minority candidates away from other seats.

"What I don't want to happen is to get this stereotype that some seats are reserved for blacks and the majority of seats are reserved for whites," said former state Rep. I.S. Leevy Johnson, a black Columbia lawyer.

Of the 140 judges on the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Administrative Law, Circuit, Family and master-in-equity courts in South Carolina, eight are black.

That means blacks make up about 6 percent of South Carolina's judges, while they make up almost 30 percent of the state's population.

The candidates for Lloyd's seat are Michelle Childs, Debra Gammons, John Geathers, Daniel Hall, Joseph Strickland and William Witherspoon. All but Hall are black.

Two of the five candidates for an open Administrative Law Court seat are black.

"At least people feel more comfortable to apply. You can't win the fight if you're not in the ring," said Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia, who has pushed for changes in the way the state selects its judges to expand diversity on the bench.

Howard thinks more black candidates are running in the upcoming election because of recruiting efforts by the Legislative Black Caucus and a change in the makeup of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, was appointed to the 10-member commission in November, bringing the number of blacks on the panel to three.

Howard also is pushing to eliminate a cap on the number of candidates the screening commission nominates. The maximum currently is three nominees per judicial seat.

His bill passed the House, but a Senate committee amended the measure to cap the number of nominees at five per seat.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said the number of minority judges should grow as the candidate pool becomes more diverse. Even though changes may be slow to come, McConnell said simply running for a seat improves a candidate's future chance of being selected because they get to know legislators and become comfortable with the process.

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com/