Politico has reported that 5-term Rep. Henry Brown (R) is retiring from Congress.
Brown survived a closer-than-expected re-election in 2008 and was already facing a primary challenge from Carroll Campbell III, the son of the former GOP governor and congressman.
But a source close to Brown said that the congressman, who previously served in the state House, was not being chased off.
"He’s simply ready to retire after 25 years of public service," said the source, noting that Brown’s approval ratings in his Low Country district remain high. "But he turned 74 last month, and wants to spend time with family."
Brown had survived a much closer than expected race against Democrat Linda Ketner, only winning 52%-48%, as McCain got 56.5% of the vote in SC-01.
Brown wasn't known for much, other than starting a forest fire and then refusing to pay for damages, and then trying to rewrite the law to make it harder to prosecute people who do start forest fires.
The primary's not till June, so both sides will have ample time to find candidates to run for this seat. SSP has more on candidates who've already announced for the seat on both sides. No word yet on 2008 nominee Ketner, though. Anyone know what she's up to these days? Would she like another shot, this time at an open seat?
A problem, though, is that SC-01 is over 21% black, and their turnout looks to sharply drop in 2010. Without their support, Ketner or any other Democrat may have a very hard time getting back to 48%, much less over 50%. Though a testament to Ketner's strength is that she's openly gay, and was able to get 48% in a very Republican district. Maybe I'm completely off here, but I have the impression that South Carolina Republicans aren't exactly gay-friendly.
Here's the DailyKos scoreboard of last year's South Carolina House races for your perusal.
Of note, in SC-01, Obama received a total of 146,919 votes, while Ketner got 163,724 votes. Given that 347,606 people in total voted for President here, and 341,879 voted for Congress, the drop-off was almost negligible. What does this mean? It means there was actually a significant number of McCain-Ketner voters. I know, it makes no sense to me either. I'm guessing they were in the minority of SC Republicans who supported McCain in 2000 and loathed Bush's "black baby" attack.