Sen. Penry Gustafson, left, and Sen. Katrina Shealy during the first day of session in Columbia, S.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (Travis Bell/STATEHOUSE CAROLINA/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)

Four years ago, Sen. Penry Gustafson stunned political observers when she narrowly beat long-time Democratic incumbent Vincent Sheheen to flip the Senate seat that spans the Midlands to the North Carolina border. Now, a year after voting to block a near-total abortion ban, she’s fighting to fend off a GOP challenger.

Gustafson, R-Camden, is among 16 incumbent senators — just over a third of the 46-member chamber — facing an opponent in the June 11 primaries.

She faces a well-funded candidate who’s better known in an area of her district that’s grown since her 2020 upset. The Legislature’s post-census redrawing of voting lines put more of Lancaster County in the district and reduced its share of Kershaw County, where she’s from and previously served in the county GOP leadership.

Allen Blackmon, of rural Heath Springs, is in his second term on the Lancaster County Council.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen on Tuesday,” Gustafson told the SC Daily Gazette on Thursday. “I think if anybody gets lazy and takes a vote for granted that’s when they lose, and that’s what happened to Sen. Vincent Sheheen.”

In 2020, Gustafson bested Sheheen — a 16-year senator who was twice Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee — by 2 percentage points, or less than 900 votes. She was among three Republicans that November who flipped Senate seats long held by Democrats, giving the Senate GOP caucus a 14-seat advantage over Democrats.

She says she’s built a conservative voting record in the four years since.

Blackmon contends her constituent service is poor, and he’ll do a better job responding to requests. He also disagrees with some of her votes, he said, chiefly her vote against the so-called “fetal heartbeat” law that effectively banned abortions last year at the sixth week of pregnancy.

Gustafson was among the chambers’ five female senators, who called themselves “sister senators,” who helped defeat the near-total ban passed by House Republicans that would have made abortions illegal from the moment a pregnancy is medically detectable.

In 2021, Gustafson was among all but one Republican in the Senate who voted for the Legislature’s first six-week ban, which temporarily took effect in summer 2022 — after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — and was thrown out in January 2023 as violating the state constitution.

Then in February 2023, she initially voted for the Senate version of the next six-week ban, before helping defeat the House version and ultimately voting against the bill signed by Gov. Henry McMaster. Her opposition brought a censure from the local GOP leadership in her home county.

The other two GOP “sister senators” who voted “no” to the law upheld by the state Supreme Court last August also face primary challenges.

“We all wanted to reduce abortion,” Gustafson said. “I think all of us wanted to. It was just a matter of when and how.”

Abortion foes pledge to try again next year with a bill banning abortion from the outset of pregnancy. They’re hoping additional flips in the Senate will give them the necessary votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate to push through a more restrictive law.

District 27, which covers much of Kershaw as well as Lancaster and Chesterfield counties along the North Carolina border, is considered safely Republican according to an analysis by the League of Women Voters. Whoever wins the primary will face Democrat Yokima Cureton in November.

If re-elected, Gustafson said she wants to work on legislation addressing the state’s surging energy needs, and investments in water and sewer systems, particularly in rural Chesterfield County.

As for Blackmon’s accusations of poor constituent services, Gustafson said she has done her best with the limited resources of the Statehouse.

Senators who aren’t in leadership lack staff, and in a chamber where seniority rules, freshmen aren’t in leadership. She notes she shares a single administrative assistant.

“Constituent services is something I think most of us strive to do. I try to balance that with my legislative work, which is the number one thing about the job,” she told the Gazette. “And I do the best I can do. But my gosh, I’m not perfect, and occasionally things slip by.

“I have loved every minute of being a state senator, and it truly would be an honor to me to keep serving, to keep doing what I’m doing, and to get better at it,” she said.

Blackmon, who spent 33 years with the state Department of Revenue, said he wants to double down on constituent services if elected.

“That is one thing I do well. I take people’s phone calls. I return phone calls, and, people have problems, I try to help them solve them,” he said.

On the legislative side, Blackmon wants to look at ways to reform the tax system, support public schools and invest in roads.

Blackmon was not the only person interested in challenging Gustafson. Rep. Richard Yow, R-Chesterfield, a friend of Blackmon, was also planning to run.

“I was running, without a doubt,” Yow told the Gazette.

Like Blackmon, he said Gustafson is not providing good constituent services and has not been visible in his area of the district.

Yow said he has known Blackmon for a decade. After talking it over, the two agreed that Blackmon would challenge Gustafson, and Yow would seek re-election to his House seat.

“I’m glad to support him,” Yow said. “No beef. No bone. I support him 100%.”

If money is any indication, Blackmon may have a shot. He has collected about $80,000 in donations plus took out a $50,000 loan. As of May 27, he had about $36,000 cash available.

Gustafson has raised about $62,000. She had a $7,300 balance, as of the pre-primary filings.

But Blackmon said his main campaigning is through direct contact with voters, knocking on doors and making phone calls.

“The path to victory is always direct voter contact,” he said.

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