The suspense-filled special election in South Carolina between Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch ends Tuesday. Voters in the state’s first district, including Charleston, are at the polls to pick the replacement for Tim Scott, now Senator Tim Scott. “Anybody that tells you that they know who is going to win this race or thinks that know, have no clue what they are talking about,” msnbc contributor Jimmy Williams said. “I went by a couple polling places this morning in downtown Charleston, there were more people there then there were for the runoff for the primary on the Republican side, so there is more interest this time.”
So will it be redemption for disgraced Mark Sanford who is still carrying the baggage from his Appalachian trail cover-up? Or will a Democratic win in a highly Republican district? “We are in a state full of sinners that love redemption,” Williams said.
But ultimately it comes down to turnout. No one is questioning how white males over the age of 40 are going to vote, but the Women Under 50 vote could go either way. “It matters about independent women, Republican women that are going to cross over ...who are not happy that Mark Sanford wants to be back in the spotlight considering one of their very own was jilted by him,” Williams said. “You have a lot of women who are just fed up, they are tired. They can empathize with Mrs. Sanford [and] they just don’t like how he has treated her over and over again.”
If Colbert Busch wins "she will be number 435 in the House of Representatives which will put her in the back of the line," Williams said. While she may get some special perks to help the Democrats keep her seat in a Republican district, that is all she will get. As First Read pointed out, "It’s a race that appears to signify, well, nothing, especially as it relates to 2014 and 2016. If Sanford wins--in a district where Mitt Romney beat President Obama by 18 percentage points, 58%-40% --it will be due simply to the district’s GOP tilt. And if Colbert Bush wins, it will be due simply to Sanford’s flaws and past baggage."
The polls in South Carolina close at 7pm.