Carter Unable to Unseat Knight for S.C. House District 97

For a second time, businessman and U.S. Airforce veteran Ed Carter has failed to take S.C. House District 97. This time, he made his bid as a Republican taking on incumbent Rep. Patsy Knight, who has held the seat since 2006. 

Carter tried to take the seat in 2000 as a Democrat, when it was won by Republican David J. Owens. 

He lost Tuesday's general election by gaining only 43.7 percent of the vote in Dorchester County. Carter won Colleton County's three precincts with 55.6 percent of the vote there, but the 541 votes from those precincts barely made a dent in the final results. Knight earned 56 percent of the vote. 

Click here to see results for contested races in Dorchester County

Carter is currently the board chairman of the Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce. He defeated his GOP rival Jordan Bryngelson with 54.8 percent of the vote in the June primary to be his party's nominee. 

Knight has been in office since 2006. In 2006, Knight defeated incumbent Republican George Bailey, who now has a county council seat. She won by about 200 votes. Bailey originally took the seat as a Democrat in 2002, and served as representative of the district in the 1990s as a Democrat. 

Knight was previously the Dorchester County treasurer.