South Carolina's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in western

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

bordering both

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. It includes all of

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens, and Saluda counties and portions of Greenville and

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (1956–2023), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Ne ...

counties. The district is mostly rural, but much of the economy revolves around the manufacturing centers of Anderson and Greenwood.

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

, the state's second largest by enrollment, is also in the district. With a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated PVI or CPVI, is a measurement of how partisan a U.S. congressional district or U.S. state is. This partisanship is indicated as lean towards either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, com ...

rating of R+21, it is the most Republican district in South Carolina.

History

Historically, the district was a Democratic stronghold, and Democrats continued to hold most local offices well into the 1990s. However, most residents share the socially conservative views of their counterparts in the 4th district and the district has elected

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

since 1994. Republicans now dominate the district's politics at all levels, usually scoring margins rivaling those in the 4th. Indeed, no Democrat has cleared the 40 percent mark in the district in almost a quarter-century. South Carolina's senior Senator,

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (; born July 9, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A membe ...

, held this seat from 1995 to 2003. He was succeeded by J. Gresham Barrett, who gave up the seat in order to run for governor. State Rep. Jeff Duncan won the seat in 2010. From 2003 to 2013, the district included all of

, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens and Saluda counties and most of Aiken and Laurens counties.

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd118/cd_based/ST45/CD118_SC03.pdf
/ref> Abbeville County (9) : All 9 communities Anderson County (19) : All 19 communities Edgefield County (5) : All 5 communities Greenville County (4) : Fountain Inn (shared with Laurens County), Golden Grove (part; also

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

(shared with Anderson County), Ware Place Greenwood County (9) : All 9 communities Laurens County (11) : All 11 communities McCormick County (7) : All 7 communities Newberry County (8) : All 8 communities Oconee County (13) : All 13 communities Pickens County (11) : All 11 communities Saluda County (5) : All 5 communities

Recent election results from statewide races

List of members representing the district

Past election results

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
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