South Carolina Republican Tom Rice Who Voted to Impeach Trump Has Lost His Seat

By
David Rufful
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OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

In a major victory, voters in South Carolina decided it was time for U.S. Rep Tom Rice to be removed from office.

Rice, who represents South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, notoriously voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

Instead, voters overwhelmingly supported a Trump-backed challenger, Russell Fry, who earned more than 50 percent of the vote.

This result avoid a runoff and Rice lost his seat. Rice was widely condemned as a “traitor” for turning on fellow Republicans and voting to impeach Trump.

More on this story via Townhall:

Decision Desk called the race at 10:36pm, with over 95 percent of the vote in. Fry earned 51.08 percent of the vote to Rep. Rice’s 24.57 percent. At no point did Rep. Rice lead in the polls. In fact, he was behind by double digits throughout.

Rep. Rice had earned the former president’s ire as one of 10 Republican House members who had voted to impeach Trump in January of last year, just as he was about to leave office.

Last November, Trump issued a call for “good and SMART America First Republican Patriots” to challenge about a dozen Republican House members, including those who had voted for his impeachment and/or the so-called infrastructure bill. Rep. Rice was one of those members.

Trump won South Carolina in 2016 by 54.9 percent of the vote and by 55.1 percent of the vote in 2020.

Tuesday is actually Trump’s birthday, with Newsweek’s Ewan Palmer noting as much earlier on Tuesday, pointing out that Rice losing his seat could be a birthday present for the former president. “Donald Trump’s Birthday Present Could Be Two High Profile GOP Scalps,” Palmer wrote, also referring to Rep. Nancy Mace. Although the race is much closer than it was between Fry and Rice, Mace appears to still be ahead of Trump-backed primary challenger Katie Arrington, with over 50 percent.

Rep. Rice was first elected to Congress in 2012, winning 55.5 percent of the vote to Democratic candidate Gloria Bromell Tinubu’s 44.4 percent of the vote.