In South Carolina, 3 G.O.P. Women Fought an Abortion Ban. They Lost Their Races.
Originally published by Kate Zernike for the New York Times
Last year, the five self-proclaimed “Sister Senators” from South Carolina were awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award after they joined together across party lines to block the legislature from passing a near-total abortion ban.
But a prize from the nation’s most storied Democratic family may not be the best calling card in Republican primaries in the red-state South.
All three of the Republican women in the group of five — the others were a Democrat and an independent — faced primary challenges, and all three have now lost. State Senator Katrina Shealy, who was the only female member of the chamber after she won in 2012, failed to win a runoff on Tuesday against the son of a former legislator.
The two others lost earlier this month: Penry Gustafson lost by a 64 point margin; Sandy Senn lost by 33 votes, small enough to trigger a recount, but conceded the race before that.
South Carolina ranks 47th for the number of women in its state legislature, just above Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. The losses this month are likely to mean that no Republican women will serve in the next session. Ms. Shealy was the only woman to lead a committee in the chamber.