Senate District 38 candidate Sean Bennett to remain on Nov. 6 ballot

A Circuit Court judge has ruled that Senate District 38 candidate Sean Bennett will be on the Nov. 6 ballot after all, Bennett’s lawyer said.

Bennett’s candidacy was called into question in a recent lawsuit. The businessman toppled incumbent Sen. Mike Rose in the June GOP primary for the Summerville area seat.

Attorney Robby Robbins, who represented Bennett, said he got word today that Judge Howard King has ruled that Bennett may remain the District 38 GOP candidate.

“Sean would not have had a problem if the paperwork hadn’t been stolen from the Republican party office,” Robbins added.

The lawsuit, filed by the Dorchester County Democratic Party, questioned whether nonincumbent Republicans filed their ethics forms properly when declaring their candidacies.

It’s the same legal technicality that already has knocked about 250 Republican and Democrat state and local candidates off this year’s ballots across South Carolina.

King held an all-day hearing Monday and ruled at that time that two other Republicans, House District 97 candidate Ed Carter and Dorchester County Council District 4 candidate Carroll Duncan also are eligible.

Carter faces Rep. Patsy Knight, D-St. George, this fall. Duncan is unopposed.

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771.

Editor’s note: Earlier versions of this story gave incorrect information about the Dorchester County Council race. The Post and Courier regrets the error.