Sen. Jake Knotts (R) launches petition campaign for SC Governor

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Sen. Jake Knotts (R-West Columbia) has started collecting signatures for a petition candidacy for governor.  (link)

Knotts has indicated that if he doesn't end up running, he'll be supporting Moore over Sanford, so this could end up helping Sanford if it drains disaffected Republican voters away from Moore, and there are a lot of Republican voters who aren't happy with Sanford right now, especially in Lexington County.  Knotts doesn't have long to gather the 10,000 signatures he needs, but it is doable.

[Speed of Sound]

Im not familiar with SC politics, especially not regarding third parties/Indies. What kind of percent would Knotts be looking at if he made the ballot?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's not unheard of for petition candidates to win races, tho it's rare, and usually involves an incumbent who has either abandoned their party or been abandoned by it.  Given the late start, lack of funds, and the fact that both Sanford and Moore are reasonably competent campaigners, I expect he will do around 10%.  Knotts is helped a bit by the fact that that none of the minor parties are as of yet running a candidate for governor, so he'll pick up any protest votes that would have gone one of them instead.  Knotts could also try to pick up one of those minor party endorsements, but I think he is viewing the ability to get the needed signatures a test of whether its worth trying to continue running, and aside from providing ballot access, none of them would give him anything.   If Knotts runs, it will be purely as a spoiler candidacy.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Knotts managed to gather 13,000 signatures and probably could have gotten several thousand more as extra insurance for the 10,000 signatures need, but he decided he wouldn't be able to raise the funds needed for a successful campaign, so he decided to not run.  That leaves Sanford, Moore, and some guy from the Constitution Party who I can remember in the race.

[7,052,770]

so he decided to not run

Goddammit!