From Staff Reports 

 GREENVILLE, S.C.  â€” Voters in Upstate South Carolina showed heavy support for Donald Trump. a Republican, in his bid to be the next president and weighed in on their choices for U.S. House districts, referenda and several local races in the Nov. 5 general election.

Trump, who preceded Joe Biden as president, won the election in South Carolina with 1,483,747 votes, or 58.2 percent; while his opponent, Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, won 1,028,452 votes, or 40.4 percent.

Also as widely reported, not only did Trump easily capture South Carolina, he also won the presidency by a landslide in the national vote. 

In the popular vote nationally, Trump won 77,378,822 votes, or 50.01 percent, over Harris’ 74,561.822 votes or 48.3 percent.

In Electoral College voting, Trump won 312 votes, while Harris finished with 226 votes. Trump won nine electoral votes in South Carolina.

Among Upstate and statewide election results were the following:

• U.S. House District 3: Republican newcomer Sheri Biggs, who won 248,160  votes, or 71.8 percent, defeated Democrat newcomer Bryon Best, with 87,617 votes, or 25.3 percent. There was no incumbent, as U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan did not seek re-election.

• U.S. House District 4: GOP incumbent William Timmons, with 206,360 votes, or 59.3 percent, easily was re-elected over Democrat challenger Kathryn Harvey, with 128,630 votes, or 37.3 percent.

• In U.S. House District 5, Republican incumbent Ralph Norman, with 227,940 votes, or 63.61 percent, topped Democrat challenger Evangline Hundley, with 130,393 votes, or 36.39 percent. 

• Among those running unopposed and re-elected were Republican Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis, Republican Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis and Greenville County Republican Register of the Deeds Tmothy L. Nanney. 

In nearby Spartanburg County, there was record-setting early voting and intense interest in the presidential race, as the county experienced its highest general election turnout rate in 32 years and set a new record for total ballots cast — 156,136 — in the Nov. 5 election, according to the Upstate Post & Courier. 

However, “no seats changed hands in Spartanburg County” as a result of the Nov. 5 election, the P&C noted. “That’s because contested seats were already in Republican hands and the 75.49 percent of registered voters in the county who cast ballots broke harder for Trump than they did four years ago. 

“His (Trump’s) margin of victory was more than 6 points higher than four years ago, while Vice President Kamala Harris received more than 2,000 fewer votes than President Joe Biden garnered in 2020.

In Spartanburg County, Trump won 1.4 millions votes, or 58.2 percent, to Harris’ 1 million votes, or 40.04 percent. 

“Meanwhile, (Spartanburg County) voters approved referendums that set property taxes to support services in four fire districts and sought to issue $2.5 million in bonds for fire station improvements and a new engine,” the P&C noted.

Regarding the voting history of South Carolina, the websitee www.270ToWin.com reported the following:

“South Carolina, one of the original 13 colonies, attained statehood in May 1788 and has participated in every presidential election except 1864, when it had seceded from the Union. 

“Like many other Southern states, South Carolina voted almost exclusively Democratic from the time of Reconstruction through the early 1960s, before turning Republican largely in response to civil rights legislation. 

“South Carolina was one of only six states to vote for Barry Goldwater in 1964 and has voted Republican since, except in 1976 when it voted for fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter. In 2020, Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden by 55 percent to 43 percent.”