Sanford aide weighs state Senate run

HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Gov. Mark Sanford's chief of staff says he is thinking about running against a fellow Republican for her state Senate seat.

Tom Davis, 47, is considering a run against state Sen. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, who won the seat in a special election last year to finish out the term of Scott Richardson. Richardson resigned to become head of the state Insurance Department.

"It's always been in the back of my mind; it's always been something I've thought about, primarily because the approach I have for government is consistent with where I think people in Beaufort County are coming from," Davis told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet on Friday.

His approach to government has been in line with Sanford's over the years. The two met in college at Furman University and Davis worked on Sanford's campaigns for the U.S. House and governor.

"I think he's somebody who gets the bigger picture of where we are in terms of globalization," Sanford said. "Of all the different team members, I think he, at both a gut and intellectual level, understands this like very, very few in the organization."

Davis worked in the governor's office in 2003-04 and again since 2006. He also served on the State Ports Authority Board in 2005 where he was a strong proponent for a port in Jasper County.

Before going to work for Sanford, Davis was a partner in the law firm of Harvey and Battey in Beaufort.

Ceips served three terms in the South Carolina House before winning the Senate seat last year in a hard-fought Republican primary against Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton.

"You'll never hear me say anything negative about people who want to offer public service," Ceips said. "And that seat doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the people."

Davis has until March 30 to decide whether he will run.