- Lead
- 85,002
- Total
- 373,067
- vs nation
- R+21.3
South Carolina 5th Congressional District
▦ precinct · ▥ counties · ▢ no spatial detail
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 66,425
- Total
- 365,485
- vs nation
- R+22.6
- Lead
- 61,295
- Total
- 302,035
- vs nation
- R+22.4
- Lead
- 38,207
- Total
- 281,563
- vs nation
- R+17.4
- Lead
- 34,706
- Total
- 269,070
- vs nation
- R+20.2
- Lead
- 47,156
- Total
- 216,870
- vs nation
- R+19.3
- Lead
- 34,815
- Total
- 183,673
- vs nation
- R+19.5
- Lead
- 6,279
- Total
- 152,395
- vs nation
- R+12.6
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+22.8MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 731,2622024 5-year
- Population density
- 142 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 5,161 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $71,5172024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 64.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 23.8%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 5.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+97.6 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+44.7 in 1972MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Congressional District 3, AL · twin score 96.3
presidential history
Party record book
South Carolina 5th Congressional District · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 (partial returns from 1876) · 38 presidential cycles · 38 with a vote-share denominator · 34 with a national benchmark
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Franklin D. Roosevelt1936
98.8%
19,539 votes · D+97.6 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 · 98.1%
Republican
Richard Nixon1972
71.9%
73,239 votes · R+44.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Ronald Reagan, 1984 · 63.6%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Joe Biden2020
147,083votes
40.2% of the vote · R+18.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Kamala Harris, 2024 · 141,497 votes
Republican
Donald Trump2024
226,499votes
60.7% of the vote · R+22.8 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 213,508 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
John W. Davis1924
+120.8pts D vs U.S.
Place D+95.6 · U.S. R+25.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · James M. Cox, 1920 · +120.4 pts
Republican
Barry Goldwater1964
+29.9pts R vs U.S.
Place R+7.3 · U.S. D+22.6 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · +22.6 pts
Current officeholders
Federal officeholders only. State and local officeholders are planned for the next data pass.
On the ballot
Republican Ralph Norman is not seeking re-election.
Primary held June 9, 2026. Akashic does not yet carry the nominees for this contest.
How the seat has run
| Year | U.S. House | President | Ran ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | R+27.2Ralph Norman | R+22.8 | +4.4 |
| 2022 | R+29.6Ralph Norman | — | — |
| 2020 | R+20.2Ralph Norman | R+18.2 | — |
| 2018 | R+15.5Ralph W Norman | — | — |
“Ran ahead” is how far the winning party’s House candidate ran ahead of that party’s presidential margin in the same district. A dash means the House race and the presidential figure were measured on different district lines, so the two cannot be subtracted — both are still shown unchanged.
U.S. House
Each result reflects the U.S. House district as it was drawn for that election; redistricting has redrawn these lines over time, so they can differ from the current 120th-Congress district shown on the map above.
South Carolina's 5th stretches from the Charlotte suburbs through rural piedmont counties, blending fast-growing exurban communities with longstanding Republican strongholds that have consistently delivered double-digit Republican margins at every level.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 97.6 points in 1936 and a Republican high of 44.7 points in 1972. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 4.6 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 22.8 points.
A population of 731,262, a 64% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $71,517 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Congressional District 3 and Congressional District 1.
The congressional districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons → · Or open the source-auditable district brief for electoral baseline, electorate, current-cycle coverage, geography, official dates, and methodology. Open campaign intelligence report →
South Carolina 5th Congressional District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cd/4505/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.