Tom Corbin took advantage of the 48-hour special filing period to put his name on the ballot for the vacant Senate District 5 seat. Phil Shoopman notified the SCGOP Sunday night he decided against running for re-election, despite filing his intent to do so.
Corbin said he believes his impact would be better served in the senate. "It's my opinion the Houses passes may good conservative bills and the Senate needs to move on them instead of having them lay around. There are a lot of senate seats up for election and I'm hoping we can get a group in and move forward," Corbin said.
Corbin, 47, from Travelers Rest, is a first-term House of Representatives member. A special election will be held if Corbin wins the Senate seat. He is married and has two children.
Filing for District 5 was re-opened by the South Carolina Republican Party for 48 hours, from noon Monday to noon Wednesday. Chad Connelly, the state GOP party chairman, reportedly told Somers Sunday night of the plan. State law allows political parties to re-open filing, at their discretion, if there are not more than two candidates for any one office and one of the candidates withdraws from the race.
"It came as a shock to me when I learned Phil wasn't going to run. I tried to dissuade him. He told me he thought I could be great in the senate," Corbin said. Shoopman was recognized as a fiscal conservative while in the house and senate. "I believe I could be as conservative."
Corbin walked into a speaking engagement at the Spartanburg Marriott Monday, moments after he filed at the Spartanburg County election bureau. "It was a last-minute invite," Corbin said. "I ran into Betty Poe (Spartanburg County Election Commissioner) and she told me there was a forum going on across the street. I knew Phil wasn't going to be there so I took off."
Somers and other political incumbents and candidates were also speaking. Corbin said word of his filing spread quickly. "It's amazing how fast word spread. I've had very little sleep in the past three nights."
County election boards have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to send ballots to the printers with the names of the candidates. An emergency meeting of the executive committee of the SCGOP has been scheduled at 9 tonight.
District 5 includes northern Greenville County and northwest Spartanburg County.
The District 5 winner of the June 12 primary will be unopposed in the November general election. Should Corbin win, a special election will be held for his vacant house seat.
Shoopman said he was resigning to spend more time with his family and private work as an engineer.
Candidates interested in filing before noon Wednesday must pay a $416 filing fee.