The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the

South Carolina General Assembly The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and t ...

, the lower house being the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the same time as

United States presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dire ...

s. The South Carolina Constitution of 1895 provided for each

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

to elect one senator for a four-year term. The election of senators was staggered so that half of the state Senate was elected every two years. After the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled in 1964 for the case ''

Reynolds v. Sims ''Reynolds v. Sims'', 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with '' Baker v. Carr'' (19 ...

'', the state Senate was reapportioned in 1966 as a temporary measure into 27 districts with 50 members for two-year terms. In 1967, the state Senate was again reapportioned, this time into 20 districts with 46 members for four-year terms. The number of districts was reduced to 16 in 1972 and in 1984, they were eliminated with the creation of single member districts. The annual session of the General Assembly convenes at the State Capitol Building in Columbia on the second Tuesday of January of each year. However, after convening, either the House or the Senate may call for itself a 30-day recess by a majority vote, or a longer recess by a two-thirds vote.

Composition

Members of the South Carolina Senate

Except as noted, all Senators were elected in November 2020 and terms began on January 12, 2021. All terms expire in January 2025.

Composition of the Senate over time

References

* Dubin, Michael J. (2007) ''Party affiliations in the state legislatures : a year by year summary, 1796-2006.''

External links

South Carolina State House Online
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allows users to track legislative information via custom reports, tracking lists or subscription services. Services are provided via web search or Palm Pilot.
The South Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus

The South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus

Project Vote Smart – State Senate of South Carolina
{{Authority control South Carolina General Assembly State upper houses in the United States