# Sean Bennett

Sean Bennett is a Republican member of the South Carolina Senate for district 38.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: South Carolina Senate, district 38
- Serving since: 2012-11-12
- Current term: SC 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/3265c6c1-e300-4fd3-9d61-1cef57279d67

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3265c6c1-e300-4fd3-9d61-1cef57279d67 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

83% of Bennett’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from South Carolina, in the bottom quarter of State Senate Republicans.

## What Bennett says (SC 2025–26 session)

143 classified statements: 143 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Bennett | State Senate Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.7% | 2.3% | 153 of 354 |
| Policy criticism | 2.8% | 9.5% | 247 of 354 |
| Policy discussion | 15.4% | 37.3% | 309 of 354 |
| Bipartisanship | 2.1% | 2.3% | 141 of 354 |
| Credit claiming | 4.2% | 15.4% | 283 of 354 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.3% | 261 of 354 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 27% (State Senate Republicans 14%); Transportation and Public Works 18% (State Senate Republicans 6.0%); Economics and Public Finance 14% (State Senate Republicans 12%); Government Operations and Politics 14% (State Senate Republicans 17%); Armed Forces and National Security 9.1% (State Senate Republicans 6.5%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.24 (standard error 0.02), from 186 donors and 978 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 31% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Votes (SC 2025–26 session)

704 roll calls. Attendance 98.7% (South Carolina Senate 92.7%). Party unity 81% (84%). 23 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 4709 US produced iron and steel · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4709/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 4635 Physical Fitness Services · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4635/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 3387 Unlawful occupants of property · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H3387/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to grant free conference powers · S 52 Driving under the influence · fail · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S52/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 4069 Patient-Friendly Billing · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4069/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 3021 Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H3021/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to override the veto · S 238 Sine Die · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S238/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to concur · S 1043 Civil Air Patrol Leave Act · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1043/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to grant free conference powers · H 4763 Helping Alleviate Lawful Obstruction (HALO) Act · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4763/
- 2026-06-25 · voted yea · to adopt the conference report · H 4248 Food labeling · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4248/

## Legislation (SC 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 84 bills: 84 reached committee, 65 passed one chamber, 22 passed both, 7 became law. Cosponsored 0. 77.4% of sponsored bills got out of committee (South Carolina Senate 73.4%; rank 17 of 46).

Recent sponsored bills:

- S 1227: Ned Shows (passed one chamber, 2026-08-11) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1227/
- S 1226: St. Philip's Episcopal Church (passed one chamber, 2026-08-11) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1226/
- S 1190: Lung Cancer Awareness Month (passed both chambers, 2026-05-13) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1190/
- S 1187: EMS Week in SC (passed both chambers, 2026-05-13) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1187/
- S 1137: Dorchester Academy Girls Basketball (passed one chamber, 2026-04-22) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1137/
- S 1121: Colonel Claude Davis (passed one chamber, 2026-04-14) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1121/
- S 1119: Blackout license plates (passed one chamber, 2026-04-30) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1119/
- S 1083: Asphalt Pavement Association (passed one chamber, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1083/
- S 1085: Columbia Garden Club (passed one chamber, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1085/
- S 1088: Pineview 6U rookie ball All-Star champs (passed one chamber, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1088/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $14.5K (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 83% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-09-11 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2098483616158196171
- 2026-08-27 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2092957283567186292
- 2026-08-13 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2087720448335265936
- 2026-08-09 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2086545291096817883
- 2026-07-14 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2077173858637959254
- 2026-07-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2077176348401861018
- 2026-07-12 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2076363512952066160
- 2026-07-05 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2073834575004942698
- 2026-07-04 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2073410205727998202
- 2026-06-28 · Post on X · https://x.com/BennettSCSenate/status/2071250344009507272

## Links

- Official site: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=0141193165
- Campaign site: https://bennettscsenate.com/
- X: https://x.com/BennettSCSenate
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bennettscsenate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sean.bennett.9889
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bennettscsenate/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BennettSCSenate
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennettscsenate/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3265c6c1-e300-4fd3-9d61-1cef57279d67