Sandy Senn concedes in SC Senate District 41 race

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Sandy Senn has conceded in her too-close-to-call race for South Carolina Senate District 41.

Senn, the incumbent candidate, faced challenger State Rep. Matt Leber in Tuesday night’s primary. But the close race triggered a recount.

The recount was scheduled for Friday afternoon; however, in a statement released Friday morning, the outgoing state senator congratulated her opponent and conceded the race.

“I was unaware that I could waive the mandatory recount which was statutorily triggered by the race being separated by a small 30 + vote margin. However, I trust the computers to tabulate correctly and therefore I have just notified the SC Election Commission that they need not go through the many hours of extra work to re-run the ballots,” she said.

“While losing by a small number of votes was tough, the fact is my competitor only needed to win by one vote to beat me. So, I have congratulated him, profusely thanked my supporters, and even finished cleaning up all the campaign signs already,” she added.

Senn continued: “I stand by all my votes taken in the past eight years, regretting none. It has been a great honor to serve District 41 and I thank the citizens for giving me that opportunity.”

The race, one of the most closely watched in the state, turned hostile early on. The candidates repeatedly hurled explosive attacks at each other, which included publishing dueling campaign websites that characterized the other as unfit to represent the district.

Senn was one of the “sister senators” — including Katrina Shealy (R-Lexington), Margie Bright Matthews (D-Colleton), Mia McLeod (I-Richland), and Penry Gustafson (R-Kershaw) — who joined together to block a near-total abortion ban in South Carolina and ultimately vote against the current six-week ban.

Her opposition to the 2023 bill made her a target of hardline Republicans, including Leber, who questioned her commitment to conservative principles.

Leber claimed victory late Tuesday night, but Senn told News 2 at the time she was not ready to concede.

“We’re going to go ahead and claim it tonight,” Leber said. “It’s incredible. I’ll be honest, it hasn’t hit me quite yet. It means so much to so many people.”

“I’m so very grateful to all of you,” Senn said. “I’m going to assume that I may lose by 31 votes but I cannot concede that at this point. if and when I do, I’m going to congratulate my opponent, and I’m going to hope he’ll take as much love and care of district 41 as I have.”

Leber will face Democrat Rita Adkins in November.