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"Partnering with Campaign Research & Strategy was a winning decision! CRS was able to help my team chart a path to victory in both a special election and re-election to my seat in the State House. CRS understands the importance of coordinating mail, phone, and grass-roots efforts to develop an effective over-all strategy. I recommend CRS to any candidate running for political office."

Representative Laurie Funderburk

Anton Gunn - Client Information

Election Information

S.C. House of RepresentativesS.C. House of RepresentativesS.C. House of Representatives
State House District #79State House District #79State House District #79
General ElectionGeneral ElectionDemocratic Primary
November 4, 2008November 7, 2006June 13, 2006

Client Information

When Republican State Representative Bill Cotty announced he was not offering himself for re-election in 2008, Democrat Anton Gunn immediately became a front-runner for this seat. This was largely due to Gunn's success when he challenged Cotty in 2006 and came within 300 votes of unseating the incumbent.

 

In that election of 2006, Gunn engaged the complete services of CR+S when he filed to run. Before facing off against Cotty in that election, Gunn had to face fellow Democrat Todd Wood, who ran for the seat two years earlier, in a Democratic Primary. CR+S administered a robust phone and mail campaign that helped Gunn defeat Woods by a 72-28 margin in June 2006. In the general election of that year, a third candidate (independent candidate Michael Letts) got in the race and Gunn continued to build up his support. By the end of the campaign cycle, this race too became a statewide “race to watch” and the election was tight. On Election Night, Cotty was successful and beat Gunn by a margin of less than 300 votes to win a plurality and re-election to another two-year term in the Statehouse. Had Gunn been successful, he would have become the only African-American member of the S.C. House of Representatives to represent a majority-white district.

 

Moving forward to the 2008 election cycle, without Cotty in the picture, Gunn took on the role of front-runner and retained the services of CR+S to aid him in that election. However, he still had to defeat Republican opponent David Herndon, who had been successful in tough Republican primary and run-off elections to win the nomination.

 

In addition to competing against Herndon, Gunn was also attacked by special interest groups, including one run by House Speaker Bobby Harrell. Despite all the attacks thrown his way, Anton Gunn won with nearly 54 percent of the vote. His victory helped Democrats pick up a seat in the State House, and Gunn himself became one of only two African-American legislators to represent a majority-white district in the South Carolina State House of Representatives.