United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1870

The 1870 South Carolina United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 1, 1870 to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. The fifth and sixth seats were decided by an at-large election, but the House of Representatives refused to seat the two winners. The two incumbents who ran were re-elected and the two open seats were retained by the Republicans. The composition of the state delegation thus remained solely Republican.

1st Congressional District Special Election

The seat for the 1st congressional district became vacant following the resignation of Republican Benjamin F. Whittemore in February 1870. A special election was called to be held simultaneously with the regular election and Republican Joseph Rainey defeated Democrat C.W. Dudley to serve the remainder of the term for the 41st Congress.

General election results

South Carolina's 1st Congressional District Special Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Joseph Rainey	20,385	86.5
	Democratic	C.W. Dudley	3,192	13.5
Majority			17,193	73.0
Turnout			23,577
	Republican hold

1st Congressional District

Republican Joseph Rainey defeated Democrat C.W. Dudley in the regular election for the 1st congressional district to win the term for the 42nd Congress.

General election results

South Carolina's 1st Congressional District Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Joseph Rainey	20,221	63.5	-23.0
	Democratic	C.W. Dudley	11,628	36.5	+23.0
	No party	Write-Ins	9	0.0	0.0
Majority			8,593	27.0	-46.0
Turnout			31,858
	Republican hold

2nd Congressional District

Incumbent Republican Congressman Christopher C. Bowen of the 2nd congressional district, in office since 1868, was defeated by black Republican Robert C. De Large in the general election.

General election results

South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Robert C. De Large	16,686	49.6
	Republican	Christopher C. Bowen (incumbent)	15,700	46.7
	Union Reform	Robert Seymour Symmes Tharin	862	2.6
	No party	Write-Ins	364	1.1
Majority			986	2.9
Turnout			33,612
	Republican hold

3rd Congressional District

Incumbent Republican Congressman Solomon L. Hoge of the 3rd congressional district, in office since 1869, declined to run for re-election. Robert B. Elliott was nominated by the Republicans and defeated Union Reform challenger John E. Bacon in the general election.

General election results

South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Robert B. Elliott	20,564	59.5
	Union Reform	John E. Bacon	13,997	40.5
	No party	Write-Ins	4	0.0
Majority			6,567	19.0
Turnout			34,565
	Republican hold

4th Congressional District

Incumbent Republican Congressman Alexander S. Wallace of the 4th congressional district, in office since 1870, defeated Democratic challenger Isaac G. McKissick.

General election results

South Carolina's 4th Congressional District Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Alexander S. Wallace (incumbent)	16,747	55.3
	Democratic	Isaac G. McKissick	13,442	44.4
	No party	Write-Ins	106	0.3
Majority			3,305	10.9
Turnout			30,295
	Republican hold

At-Large District

The state believed that it was entitled to two additional seats in the House of Representatives and elected these members from an At-large congressional district. The voters voted for two candidates and the top two vote getters would be sent to Washington, but there were only two candidates running in the at-large election. White Republican J.P.M. Epping and black Republican Lucius Wimbush won the election, but the House of Representatives refused to seat them.

General election results

South Carolina's At-large Congressional District Election Results, 1870

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	J.P.M. Epping	71,321	50.0
	Republican	Lucius Wimbush	71,262	50.0
Turnout			142,583
	Republican win

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1870
• South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1870
• South Carolina's congressional districts

References

• "Report of the Secretary of State. November 1870." Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina at the Regular Session, 1870-'71. Columbia, SC: Republican Printing Company, 1871, pp. 513–517.