# Ed Sutton

Ed Sutton is a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate for district 20.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: South Carolina Senate, district 20
- Serving since: 2024-11-11
- Current term: SC 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/6cabdb85-c770-42ce-9eaf-68326c9dc0aa

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/6cabdb85-c770-42ce-9eaf-68326c9dc0aa (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

5.6% of Sutton’s statements contain a personal attack, 2.4 times the State Senate Democrat average of 2.4%.

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

553 classified statements: 553 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Sutton | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 5.6% | 2.4% | 48 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 17.2% | 10.3% | 75 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 31.6% | 42.9% | 237 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 4.2% | 3.4% | 99 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 3.8% | 16.1% | 280 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 1.3% | 0.8% | 65 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 19% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Armed Forces and National Security 19% (State Senate Democrats 3.5%); Education 9.8% (State Senate Democrats 15%); International Affairs 9.8% (State Senate Democrats 1.0%); Health 9.3% (State Senate Democrats 17%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.56 (standard error 0.03), from 913 donors and 209 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 64% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (SC 2025–26 session)

697 roll calls. Attendance 84% (South Carolina Senate 92.7%). Party unity 91.2% (84%). 21 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 nay · 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 nay · 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 nay · to adopt the conference report · H 4248 Food labeling · pass · https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/H4248/

## Legislation (SC 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 95 bills: 95 reached committee, 69 passed one chamber, 26 passed both, 13 became law. Cosponsored 0. 72.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (South Carolina Senate 73.4%; rank 25 of 46).

Recent sponsored bills:

- 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 1164: Call for an Article V Convention of States on Federal Fiscal Responsibility (in committee, 2026-05-05) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1164/
- S 1133: Lonnie Hosey Purple Heart Highway (passed both chambers, 2026-05-07) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1133/
- S 1121: Colonel Claude Davis (passed one chamber, 2026-04-14) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1121/
- S 1115: South Carolina Adventure Route (passed one chamber, 2026-04-14) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1115/
- 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/
- S 1087: Multicultural Business Alliance Day in South Carolina (passed one chamber, 2026-03-31) https://openstates.org/sc/bills/2025-2026/S1087/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $23.3K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 75% 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.

- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2114821369682887084
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2114138804709654860
- 2026-10-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2113640197573456285
- 2026-10-22 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2113062146666053874
- 2026-10-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2112917931374133565
- 2026-10-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2112919363569254846
- 2026-10-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2113010494873522558
- 2026-10-20 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2112595172693348692
- 2026-10-20 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2112686466669142237
- 2026-10-18 · Post on X · https://x.com/EdCSutton/status/2111631829069353394

## Links

- Official site: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=1782954332
- Campaign site: https://suttonforscsenate.com/
- X: https://x.com/EdCSutton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suttonforSC/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ed.c.sutton
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ed.c.sutton
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-sutton-a5785299/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/6cabdb85-c770-42ce-9eaf-68326c9dc0aa