A special election for the first congressional district in South Carolina will occur on May 7, 2013. The reason for this election is that Tim Scott, the former congressman representing the district, was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Senator Jim DeMint. So far, two Democrats (including Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, sister of the famed comedian Stephen Colbert) have announced their candidacies for the seat, while a whopping 16 Republicans are running. The frontrunner and clear favorite appears to be disgraced former governor Mark Sanford, who represented the district for 6 years in Congress. Keith Blandford, who ran for the same seat as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2012 and received 2.18% of the vote, is running in the GOP primary this time around.

While there is a large number of major party candidates, two individuals have announced that they are running for the Green Party nomination in the district. They are Larry Carter Center and Eugene Platt.

Carter is a political activist who gained some notoriety and local media coverage by allegedly hitting an abortion protestor with his car on purpose. He was arrested and released home the following day. He is being charged with simple assault, which carries a charge of up to 3o days in prison.

The second Green Party candidate, Eugene Platt, is the Public Service Commissioner for James Island and a 1990 Democratic candidate for the 1st congressional district, a race in which he was soundly defeated. Platt is currenty the only Green Party member serving as a an elected public official in the state. He has held his office since 1993. He believes neither major party candidate will be able to discusses the necessity of raising more revenue and putting an end to military adventurism in foreign countries. He is also planning to campaign largely on the Green New Deal, a proposal originally put out in the public sphere by 2012 GP presidential candidate Jill Stein. Platt has, according to the SC GP website, been instrumental in fighting to preserve the state’s coastline and has worked hard to oppose a highway extension that he says will have a negative impact on the shore’s ecosystem. Also, in 2011, he was able to convince the local government to pass a motion asking the State Board of Elections to conduct an audit of electronic voting machines.

The primary election is held March 19th.

To visit the Green Party candidates’ websites, please go to the links below:

Larry Carter Center:

http://votelarrycongress.wordpress.com/

Eugene Platt:

http://www.voteplatt.com/