South Carolina Senate
The Senate of South Carolina (South Carolina Senate ) is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, which according to the Constitution of the State entrusted with the legislative institution. The lower house is formed by the House of Representatives from South Carolina.
The Senate has 46 Senators, all of which are elected at the same time for a term of four years, each Senator represents a constituency. The choice is always held together with the presidential elections in the United States.
The Constitution of South Carolina from 1895 provides for the election of a senator for a four -year period for each county in the state. The elections were first conducted in staggered alternately refilled every two years, half of the seats through elections. Following a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Reynolds v. Sims in 1964 took place in 1966 a new division of the constituencies and were temporarily 27 constituencies with 50 senators formed with a two -year period. In 1967, a new division in 20 constituencies with 46 senators and a four -year period took place. The number of constituencies in 1972 and 1984 reduced to 16, then there constituencies emerged with only one senator.
The meeting room of the Senate is located together with the House of Representatives in South Carolina State House in the capital, Columbia.
Composition of the Senate
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Lieutenant Governor Ken Ard (R ) is currently the President of the Senate, Glenn F. McConnell (R- Charleston ) is the Deputy President (Pro tempore ).
Members of the Senate of South Carolina
Composition of the Senate in the past
- (a ) The election of a Democrat in Abbeville was declared invalid, the mandate remained unoccupied.
- ( b ) All seven were members of the Conservative Party of South Carolina.
- ( c) After the 2000 elections, there was initially a stalemate in the Senate, as 23 Democrats and 23 Republicans were elected. The Democrat J. Verne Smith of Greer joined the Republicans to pick up the stalemate.
- ( d) The Republicans won in a by-election in the 2007 another mandate. Therefore, the Senate currently consists of 27 Republicans and 19 Democrats.