Primary result: Haley tops S.C. GOP primary, but falls short of 50% needed to avoid runoff
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Nikki Haley beat back charges that she had an adulterous affair, winning the most votes Tuesday in the GOP primary for governor in South Carolina, but apparently fell short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.
Haley will face Rep. Gresham Barrett in the June 22 runoff for the GOP nod in the state still reeling from outgoing Gov. Mark Sanford’s admission that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
Backed by the ‘tea party’ movement and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Haley was the leader in a four-way race. She ran much stronger than Barrett and will be the favorite in the runoff, according to Associated Press projections.
If she obtains the GOP nod, she is expected to easily win in November and would become the first female governor in South Carolina history.
The GOP candidate will face state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, who won the Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday. Democrats last won the governor’s mansion in 1998.
Rep. Bob Inglis, a Republican who voted to bail out the finance industry in 2008, lost his bid to be nominated for a seventh term in South Carolina, becoming one of the lawmakers who fell because of popular wrath at Wall Street.
[Updated 7:12 p.m.: AP now reports that Inglis runs second and heads for the runoff.]
--Michael Muskal
