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South Carolina U.S House Candidates on Social Media

Previously, we have examined the gubernatorial and senate races for the state of South Carolina. Finally, we will end this week by exploring the races happening for the U.S House of Representatives. While all districts will be mentioned, we used Sprinklr to look Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the most depth. This is because they encompass the larger cities in the state, such as Charleston (1), Columbia(2), Greenville (4). We also included district 3 as it represents us here in Clemson.  To help clarify, here is a map showing the 7 congressional districts in South Carolina.

District 1: Nancy Mace (R)– Incumbent, Annie Andrews (D), and Joseph Oddo (Alliance Party)

Representative Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) is the incumbent Republican nominee for district 1. Mace’s name has been been mentioned over 149k times and reached 2.6 billion users. Mentions were overall coded as 81% negative. Some of the top themes under the search of Mace’s name are “Donald Trump” and  “Democrat running against Republican Nancy Mace”. The most retweeted post under Mace’s name is from her opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews

Mace has also been highly mentioned as Tulsi Gabbard, who previously ran for president in 2020 as a democratic nominee, left the Democratic Party and gave Nancy Mace her endorsement.

Dr. Annie Andrews (@AnnieAndrewsMD) is a pediatrician and the democratic nominee in District 1.

A search of her name reveals that she has been mentioned 26.3k times and reached over 143 million users. The sentiment of these mentions were coded as 63% positive. Some of the top themes of discussion surrounding Dr. Andrews includeViolence against Women Act.. This is a reference to a tweet in which Dr. Andrews quotes herself  calling out Nancy Mace for voting against this act.

Joseph Oddo doesn’t seem to have an official campaign Twitter. However, an online search revealed he was in the Alliance party and is a strong believer in election reform.

District 2: Joe Wilson (R)– Incumbent and Judd Larkins (D)

Representative Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) is the incumbent Republican nominee for district 2. A search of his name revealed he been mentioned over 47k times and reached over 263 million users. The sentiment of the posts was more negatively coded at 84%. The themes and posts discussing Joe Wilson were saturated with call backs to the time he yelled “you lie” at President Obama during his State of The Union address. The most retweeted post on the matter coming from his opponent Judd Larkins.

https://twitter.com/JuddForCongress/status/1560006771695026181?s=20&t=O38quX48d_OOrzFlgA5Zrg

 Judd Larkins (@JuddforCongress) is the democratic nominee for district 3. Larkins name has been mentioned 1.3k times and reached 16.7 million users. The overall sentiment of these posts were 68% positive.

https://twitter.com/JuddForCongress/status/1560714425291751424?s=20&t=Zc38FW4PbeHGnpmzStYfsw

Most of the posts mentioning Larkins name were from his personal account or those who are in support of his campaign. Similarly, to Representative Joe Wilson, many of the posts use the “you lie” incident as a way to gain support for Larkin.

District 3: Jeff Duncan (R)– Incumbent

Representative Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) is the republican incumbent and only nominee for district 3, which represents us here in Clemson. Duncan’s name has been mentioned 19k times and reached over 170 million users. The overall sentiment of these posts were 65% negative. Many of the top tweets related to Jeff Duncan show him on a list of congressmen who attempted to overturn the election or were related to the insurrection of the Capitol on January 6th.

District 4: William Timmons (R)– Incumbent and Lee Turner (Independent) (Write In)

Representative William Timmons (@RepTimmons) is the incumbent republican nominee for district 4. A search of his name revealed he had been mentioned 7.4k times and reached 50 million users. The overall sentiment of the posts were 86% negative. Simialrly to Representative Duncan, the most retween posts using Timmons name put him on the same list regarding the events on January 6th. A top theme regarding Timmons was Donald Trump, primarily for his endorsement of Timmons.

Lee Turner (@VoteLeeTurner) is the independent write in candidate for the 4th district. She has been mentioned 1.99k times and reached 30.8 million times. The overall sentiment of the post were 60% positive. Most of the content surrounding Turner were call to action posts to ensure constituents know to write in Turner, if they so choose.

Finally, here is a list of the remaining districts we did not cover today.

District 5: Ralph Norman (R)– Incumbent, Evangeline Hundley (D), and Larry Gaither (Green Party)

District 6: James Clyburn (D)– Incumbent andDave Buckner (R)

District 7: Daryl Scott (D) and Russell Fry (R)

The SMLC will continue to follow the midterm elections which take place on Tuesday, November 8th.

Author: Michelle Brazeau