Tim Scott Special Election Ordered By Nikki Haley After Senate Move

Scott Special Election Ordered
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, left, announces U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, right, as Sen. Jim DeMint's replacement in the U.S. Senate during a news conference at the South Carolina Statehouse, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Columbia, S.C., making him the only black Republican in Congress and the South's first black Republican senator since Reconstruction. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, left, announces U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, right, as Sen. Jim DeMint's replacement in the U.S. Senate during a news conference at the South Carolina Statehouse, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Columbia, S.C., making him the only black Republican in Congress and the South's first black Republican senator since Reconstruction. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) ordered a special election Wednesday to fill the House seat of Tim Scott, who is moving to the Senate to fill the seat of outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).

The governor signed an executive order making March 19 the date of party primaries. Runoffs will be held on April 2, and the general election on May 7, according to the AP.

Scott will be the upper chamber's only black member, and the first Black Republican in the Senate since Sen. Ed Brooke (R-Mass.) left in 1979.

Scott resigned from the House on Wednesday and is starting in the Senate on Thursday.

State Sen. Paul Thurmond (R), the son of late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), has decided against a run for the seat. Former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) and his ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, are reportedly mulling runs for the seat.

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