Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., announced in January that he will not seek re-election, now 19 people have filed to run and replace him, Greenville News reports.
The deadline to enter the race for South Carolina's 4th Congressional District was last Friday at noon, and the last candidate, Republican Mark Burns, filed his paperwork just two hours before the window closed.
Burns, an Easley pastor, will run against a dozen other Republicans. GOP candidates include former state Sen. Lee Bright of Spartanburg, Barry Bell of Campobello, and Greenville residents state Sen. William Timmons, state Rep. Dan Hamilton, Dan Albert, Stephen H. Brown, James Epley, Josh Kimbrell, John Marshall Mosser, Shannon Pierce, Justin David Sanders, and Claude Schmid.
Only five Democrats are in the race, including Brandon Brown of Taylors, J.T. Davis and Will Morin of Simpsonville, and Eric Graben and Doris Lee Turner of Greenville.
Guy Furay will run in the general election as the candidate for the American Party.
Both Republicans and Democrats have primaries scheduled for June 12.
"I have never seen anything like this," David Woodard, a retired political scientist with Clemson University who's now consulting for Hamilton's campaign, told Greenville News. "The voters are going to be so confused."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.