Updated at 9:29 pm ET —- Former South Carolina Republican governor Mark Sanford easily beat Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch to regain the House seat he once held.
For Sanford, the victory in the strongly Republican 1st Congressional District was sure to be widely viewed as a personal redemption. Sanford left the governor's mansion in 2009 after an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman who is now his fiancee led to the breakup of his marriage.
For his party, Sanford's win was portrayed as a rejection by a solidly Republican district of everything the Democratic Party stands for.
In a statement Chad Connelly, chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, said:
Chad Connelly, Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, stated in part:
"Tonight, the voters of the First District made it crystal clear that the baggage of Obamacare and Barack Obama's liberal policies are too much, even for a credible Democrat candidate to overcome...
"Voters demonstrated they cannot be bought and that they know Mark Sanford will be another vote for fiscal sanity in Congress. We look forward to Governor Sanford returning to Washington..."