Former South Carolina judge and ex-state legislator Vic Rawl has officially conceded the Democratic primary for Senate, after he had attempted to contest his upset loss to unemployed veteran Alvin Greene.
Rawl had originally insisted that there were irregularities or errors in vote-counting in his loss to Greene. A more common explanation has been that both candidates were unknown, and Greene’s 60% victory owed something to his name having been listed in the first position on the ballot. And last night, the state Democratic Party upheld Greene’s win, despite the embarrassment and scandals surrounding his arrest last fall on an obscenity charge.
In his statement, Rawl thanks his supporters, and announced that he will not further contest the result: “We hold our heads high, and know that the friendship of people like you is far more important in life that the outcome of any election.”
However, he also said: “The issues we raised about the lack of election integrity in South Carolina are real, and they are not going away unless people act. I assure you that I will continue to speak out about our frail, vulnerable and unverifiable election system in the months to come.”
Dear Friend:
The last ten days have been extraordinary.
But for me and Laura, it is the months before that are far more important. I cannot express our gratitude for your support during the campaign and in the days since the primary election.
We hold our heads high, and know that the friendship of people like you is far more important in life that the outcome of any election.
I wanted you to hear from me that we will not be appealing last night’s decision by the Democratic Executive Committee to reject our protest of the election results. My campaign for the United States Senate has ended.
The issues we raised about the lack of election integrity in South Carolina are real, and they are not going away unless people act. I assure you that I will continue to speak out about our frail, vulnerable and unverifiable election system in the months to come.
I also feel strongly that the Democratic Party needs major reform of the rules and procedures regarding ballot qualification, protests and many other areas. This is critical to strengthen the Party and make it broadly competitive in our state.
Let me also take a moment to thank our volunteers. They gave selflessly of their time and talent toward making our state better. I also deeply thank my staff, a talented and dedicated group of professionals who were champions both before and after June 8th.
Thank you again for your support – this race was for you.
