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Two Weeks Until Special Election, Is SC Congressional Race A Trump Referendum?

Ralph Norman, left, and Archie Parnell campaign for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District. A special election for the vacant seat will be held June 20.
Facebook / Ralph Norman for Congress, Archie Parnell for Congress
Ralph Norman, left, and Archie Parnell campaign for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District. A special election for the vacant seat will be held June 20.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Republican Ralph Norman and Democrat Archie Parnell, the candidates to fill South Carolina's vacant 5th Congressional District seat, join Mike Collins to discuss the upcoming special election.

Ralph Norman, left, and Archie Parnell campaign for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District. A special election for the vacant seat will be held June 20.
Facebook / Ralph Norman for Congress, Archie Parnell for Congress
Ralph Norman, left, and Archie Parnell campaign for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District. A special election for the vacant seat will be held June 20.

In two weeks, voters in South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District decide a special election for the seat vacated by Republican Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director. It’s one of five special elections nationwide that analysts are treating as early referenda on the Trump administration.

Former state House member Ralph Norman, who was unsuccessful in a bid for the seat a decade ago, captured the Republican nomination in a May runoff by just 221 votes. Democrats nominated Archie Parnell, a first-time office seeker, tax attorney and former Goldman Sachs adviser.

Like President Trump, Norman is touting his business experience, which could help in a district Trump carried last fall by nearly 20 points. Democrats, as they have in other states, are hoping dissatisfaction with the Trump presidency will generate turnout. And while that strategy has helped improve Democrats’ performance in other special elections, none of the vacated Republican seats have turned blue.

This hour, we talk to Ralph Norman and Archie Parnell.

GUESTS

Ralph Norman, Republican nominee, South Carolina 5th Congressional District; former South Carolina House member (@RalphNorman)

Archie Parnell, Democratic nominee, South Carolina 5th Congressional District (@Archie4Congress)

Copyright 2017 WFAE

A veteran of Charlotte radio news, Chris joined the "Charlotte Talks" staff in January 2016 as part of a mission to "step it up."