The GOP runoff for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District is too close to call late Tuesday, according to the state election commission.
The margin dividing the two Republican candidates, former state Rep. Ralph Norman and state Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, is less than 1 percentage point, meaning a recount will happen in the coming days.
Norman received 50.29 percent with 11 out of 11 counties reporting, according to the South Carolina State Election Commission, while Pope got 49.71 percent.
{mosads}Norman and Pope are vying to compete against Democrat Archie Parnell, a former Goldman Sachs senior adviser, in a June 20 general election.
South Carolina is conducting a special election for the House seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, a Republican who is now the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget
This year’s special elections have received outsized national attention as Democrats look to mobilize their base ahead of the 2018 midterms. Democrats are targeting traditionally Republican states, casting such races as a referendum on President Trump and his agenda.
The GOP is likely to hang onto Mulvaney’s former seat, however, as he had previously represented South Carolina since 2011.
Mulvaney easily won reelection in 2016, while Trump carried the Palmetto State by more than 18 points last year.
South Carolina’s general election will take place the same day as a hotly anticipated special election runoff in Georgia between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel. The race has attracted national attention as Trump won by a narrow margin in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District last November despite it typically being a GOP stronghold.