Rep. Skelton loses re-election bid in SC primary

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Walhalla Rep. B.R. Skelton has lost his bid for a sixth term.

Pickens County businessman Ed Harris defeated Skelton in Tuesday’s Republican primary, getting 53 percent of the vote.

Skelton sits on the Ways and Means Committee. The 79-year-old retired Clemson economics professor and former Clemson City Councilman was first elected to the House in 2002. Skelton is known as an independent thinker.

Harris criticized Skelton as not conservative enough. Harris supports efforts to use the tax code to help parents send their children to private school. Skelton has generally opposed the idea.

Skelton served on the panel that wrote the House’s plan to reform the pension system for public workers. That bill is in a conference committee of House and Senate members to try to compromise.