{"id":2045,"date":"2026-06-24T10:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:06:30","slug":"25-year-old-republican-wins-gop-bid-for-state-house-seat-from-lexington-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2045","title":{"rendered":"25-year-old Republican wins GOP bid for state House seat from Lexington County"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a race pitting a young conservative voice against an experienced local politician, voters picked the newcomer.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2043\">Prostitution, conspiracy, harboring an immigrant: 8 people arrested in SC<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Following a close primary, the 25-year-old candidate from Red Bank, Hunter Hackett, won the GOP nomination in Tuesday\u2019s runoff and will likely fill Rep. Ryan McCabe\u2019s state House seat after beating his opponent, former Lexington County Council member Scotty Whetstone, by a wide margin.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>With a campaign built on \u201cnot being too idealistic,\u201d Hackett joked as results came in.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA speech? I didn\u2019t prepare anything. You know, maybe I wasn\u2019t as hopeful as everybody else was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Moments later, Hackett was brought to tears. He crossed the small community center off Fairview Road to hug his grandmother as friends, family and Lexington residents celebrated at an election watch party in Leesville.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince we won the primary, November should be a knock it out of the park,\u201d Hackett said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Hackett secured the win after receiving former district Rep. Ryan McCabe\u2019s endorsement Friday. McCabe, who held the office for three consecutive terms, said he felt strongly that Hackett would best serve House District 96.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also know Hunter to be solidly conservative,\u201d McCabe wrote in a Facebook post. \u201cWe can count on him to stand up for the taxpayers and our conservative values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>With the area strongly favoring Republicans, the Democratic candidate will have trouble beating Hackett in November. If elected, he would be among the youngest serving members of the state House, a generational shift from McCabe.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Hackett\u2019s 67% of the vote was enough to defeat Whetstone, who spent eight years on the Lexington County Council, including three as chairman. With all 15 precincts reporting, Hackett had 1,525 votes to Whetstone\u2019s 741, based on unofficial results.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2041\">Here\u2019s who won race for Lexington 1 school board after special election<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Both candidates hold socially conservative positions, including opposition to abortion rights and support for Second Amendment protections. Hackett, who has not held elected office, entered the race as a newer conservative voice, while Whetstone had an established name and political network in Lexington County.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Hackett told The State on Monday that his age brings \u201cfresh ideas and a certain type of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>He plans to work closely with local and municipal governments to address responsible growth and other concerns raised by Lexington residents, Hackett said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>After Whetstone conceded, he told The State that he plans to support Democratic candidate Vivian Elston in November.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe brings more to the table for District 96,\u201d Whetstone said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a Republican and always will be, but I believe people can vote split party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Whetstone, who said he worked closely with McCabe as a council member and has a good relationship with the former representative, said McCabe\u2019s endorsement is \u201cmore of a returned favor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Whetstone said Hackett helped in McCabe\u2019s campaign before.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have the track record working with Ryan, where he worked for Ryan,\u201d Whetstone said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Hackett, who said the endorsement \u201cset an example,\u201d raised both arms in victory as unofficial results rolled in, and it became clear he would face Democratic candidate Vivian Elston in November.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2040\">Simpson secures SC agriculture nomination over son of former Clemson coach<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hunter Hackett, 25, won GOP runoff for state House District 96 in Lexington County after beating Scotty Whetstone with endorsement from Rep. Ryan McCabe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>25-year-old Republican wins GOP bid for state House seat from Lexington County - US Moving Experts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2045\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"25-year-old Republican wins GOP bid for state House seat from Lexington County - US Moving Experts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hunter Hackett, 25, won GOP runoff for state House District 96 in Lexington County after beating Scotty Whetstone with endorsement from Rep. 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