Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to move one step closer to his political comeback Tuesday, when Republicans go to the polls to decide if he or former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic will be the Republican nominee in the race for the 1st Congressional District.
Bostic and Sanford are going head-to-head in a runoff as the top two finishers in a primary last month in which no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, which was necessary to win outright.
The former governor was the highest vote-getter in the primary, with 37 percent of the vote, and is the favorite going into the run off with Bostic, who was a distant second with 13 percent of the vote.
Sanford exited the governor’s office in 2010 under the cloud of scandal from his 2009 admission that he had been having an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman, who is now his fiancé. As he attempts a return to the political limelight, that incident and the lessons he has learned from it have been a centerpiece of his campaign.
In a debate last Thursday, he spoke at length about his infidelity when he was asked how he could earn back the public trust. He said that he had learned from his “failure” and would be a better congressman for it.
Bostic contended that Sanford’s infidelity would cost Republicans the election, should he be nominated.
Voters appear to be siding with Sanford, however. A poll released last week by Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling found him leading Bostic by a wide margin, 53 percent to 40 percent.
The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, who has proven to be a formidable fundraiser and is expected to be a strong contender.
In the PPP poll, she held a narrow lead over Sanford 47 percent to 45 percent, and tied Bostic with 43 percent each. Her lead over Sanford falls within the poll’s plus or minus 2.9 points margin of error.
An internal poll conducted for Colbert Busch’s campaign, released Monday, found the Democrat leading Sanford 47 percent to 44 percent, within the margin of error. She led Bostic by a wide margin, 48 percent to 39 percent.
The PPP poll also showed Colbert Busch benefitting from a more favorable image than either of the two Republicans, with 45 percent of voters saying they have a favorable view of her and 31 percent saying they have an unfavorable view. Sanford, by contrast, is viewed favorably by just 34 percent of voters and unfavorably by 58 percent. If he wins, however, he will have the advantage of near-universal name recognition in the district. Thirty percent see Bostic favorably, and 42 percent see him negatively.
Sanford and Bostic are vying for the seat held by Republican Rep. Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate in January after former Sen. Jim DeMint retired to head the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.