The SC Senate Dist. 26 Dem Primary
State Representative Russell Ott (D) is running against State Senator Dick Harpootlian (D) after maps were redrawn. District 26 includes parts of Calhoun, Lexington, and Richland Counties. Joe Biden won the district in 2020 by 5 points.
Currently, Harpootlian represents State Senate Dist. 20 which includes portions of Lexington and Richland Counties. The 75-year-old Harpootlian has served in the State Senate since 2018 and was previously chair of the South Carolina Democrat Party and Solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina.
Ott represents District 93 in the State House of Representatives which includes parts of Calhoun, Lexington & Orangeburg Counties. He has served in the State House since 2013.
Incumbent State Senator Nikki Setzler (D), who has served in the South Carolina State Senate for almost 50 years, is retiring. Setlzer became the longest-serving incumbent State Senator in the nation after North Dakota State Senator Ray Holmberg resigned this past June.
Harpootlian unsuccessfully represented Alex Murdaugh, who has been charged with more than 90 counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, computer crimes, money laundering and forgery. Murdaugh has been convicted of murdering his young son Paul and wife Maggie and was sentenced to two life sentences, after a six-week long trial.
Hartpootlian proposed legislation alongside Republican State Senator Greg Hembree of Horry County to bring back firing squads as a method of execution. Hartpootlian framed it as a more humane option than the electric chair. South Carolina has not carried out an execution in over a decade due to the state not being able to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injection.
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The legislation passed the GOP-dominated legislature and was signed into law by Republican Governor Henry McMaster who campaigned on re-starting executions in South Carolina
Ott voted against the legislation. There is now a challenge to the constitutionally of firing squads based on cruel and unusual punishment. The South Carolina State Supreme Court just heard oral arguments in the case last week.
Hartpootlian has painted Ott as a Democrat In Name Only (DINO) for voting for constitutional carry and said he thinks Ott is “confused about what primary he should be running in.” Hartpootlian has also attacked Ott on abortion. Ott voted for Senate Bill 1 (Heartbeat legislation) in 2021 to restrict abortion after a preborn child’s heart begins to beat around six weeks, but switched positions on the abortion issue and voted against a similar piece of legislation last year after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
In 2012, Harpootlian compared then-governor Nikki Haley to Eva Braun, the mistress of Hitler. Norm Coleman, the chair of the Jewish coalition of Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, who accused him of “trivializing Nazism”. In 2013 he said that they needed to “send Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from.” Harpootlian later apologized, claiming that he did not intend to target her ethnicity and that he wanted her to “go back to being an accountant in a dress store rather than being this fraud of a governor that we have”.
In 2020, Harpootlian tweeted that South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Jerry Govan Jr., received “almost $50,000” from the Tom Steyer for President 2020 for campaign services. Harpootlian referred to Mr. Steyer as “Mr. Moneybags” and suggested that he had purchased Govan’s support. Later that day, members of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus held a press conference asking Biden to distance himself from Harpootlian. Steyer accused Harpootlian of having “a horrid track record of disrespecting and disparaging African Americans.” Steyer also asked Biden to disavow Harpootlian. Harpootlian denied that his comments were racially motivated. Now-former State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, who was a Legislative Black Caucus member, noted that the press conference was not held by the caucus itself, but by Govan and his supporters; some caucus members, including Kimpson, did not participate. Kimpson, a Biden supporter, characterized the controversy as an outgrowth of personal feuds between state lawmakers. Kimson now works in the Biden admin.
During the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Harpootlian stated that he was a “Joe Biden guy.” He endorsed Bernie Sanders for president on February 3, 2016, comparing Sanders’ passion with the kind Obama exuded in 2007 when they had first met.” In 2020, Harpootlian endorsed Joe Biden for president, stating “If the Democratic Party believes nominating a socialist is the way to win in November, they need to start drug testing at the national committee” in reference to Sanders.
Hartpootlian has been endorsed by Congressman Jim Clyburn (D). Clyburn said, “Hartpootlian is a fierce advocate for our community.” Hartpootlian’s wife, Jamie Lindler Harpootlian, is currently the ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Slovenia.
State Rep. Neal Collins, a Republican, said, “I’ve served with Rep. Ott for 10 years. You won’t find a better person serving for the right reasons.” Former State Rep. and 2018 Dem nominee for Lt. Governor Mandy Powers Norrell, a Democrat, said, “I don’t say this lightly: Rep. Ott is one of the best people I’ve ever known in my life.” State Senator Mia McLeod, an Independent, said “THIS makes my day! Love me some Rep. Ott! He’s the real deal. Always for the people. We need more public servants like him!”
