State reference

How does government work in South Carolina?

South Carolina’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

170

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of South Carolina source
In effect since: 1895 source

What may surprise you here

South Carolina’s General Assembly, not voters, elects Supreme Court justices and circuit judges by a joint public vote. source
South Carolina voters do not register by party, so any registered voter can choose a party’s primary ballot. source
Governors are elected on a joint ticket with the lieutenant governor, a rule in effect since the 2018 election. source

Legislature

Name: General Assembly source
Senate: seats: 46 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 124 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: S.C. Const. art. III, §§ 1, 3, 6.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Two successive terms source
Next regular election: 2030 source
Lieutenant governor: joint ticket source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: legislative election source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 46 source
Cities and towns: South Carolina has 271 municipal governments and no township governments, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source
Schools: All 78 of the state’s school systems are independent school districts, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source

Elections

Chief election official: State Election Commission source
Who runs elections locally: county boards of voter registration and elections source
Primary type: open source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Henry McMaster Republican, in office since January 24, 2017. source

US senators for South Carolina
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Darline Graham	Republican	Class 2	July 14, 2026	January 3, 2027
Tim Scott	Republican	Class 3	January 3, 2013	January 3, 2029

Members of the House for South Carolina
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Nancy Mace	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 2	Joe Wilson	Republican	December 18, 2001
District 3	Sheri Biggs	Republican	January 3, 2025
District 4	William R. Timmons IV	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 5	Ralph Norman	Republican	June 26, 2017
District 6	James E. Clyburn	Democratic	January 5, 1993
District 7	Russell Fry	Republican	January 3, 2023

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 2