Myrtle Beach area voters have cast their Democratic primary candidate for South Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District race. The winner will face incumbent Russell Fry in the November 2024 general election.

With all eight counties of the seventh district reporting, according to unofficial results from the South Carolina Election Commission, former Coker University professor Mal Hyman received 12,610 votes. Conway resident and veteran Daryl Scott received 12,205 votes, about a 1.64 percent margin of difference between the two candidates.

According to South Carolina law, mandatory recounts are called when the margin of difference is less than one percent. The Associated Press reports that more than 99 percent of ballots were cast.

This wasn’t either candidate’s first political race for statewide office. Hyman and Scott had previously run for the Seventh District in the general election after winning the primary.

Hyman said he wanted to conduct debates in all eight counties with Fry and said his “common sense agenda is resonating.”

“We need health care for all, and we need to tax the wealthy their fair share so that we can responsibly invest in the American dream and create more opportunity and security,” Hyman said.

Scott said he would wait to comment until the election is officially called, saying he could still win.

Hyman will now prepare to face Fry in the November 2024 general election. This is Fry’s second election cycle; he defeated former incumbent Tom Rice in 2022.

In a statement provided to The Sun News via a spokesperson, Fry focused on national efforts by Republicans to gain control of Congress and the White House and bashed Democrats’ “far-Left agenda have left Americans in the dust.”

“This November, we must elect leaders up and down the ballot who will secure our border, grow our economy, make gas and groceries affordable again, and always put America First,” Fry added.

A Democrat hasn’t represented Fry’s seat since the district was re-established in 2013.

The last Democrat that represented South Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District was in 1933 when the seat was abolished.