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A longtime fixture within the South Carolina Democratic Celebration and the previous lawyer for convicted assassin Alex Murdaugh was defeated Tuesday night time within the main for senator.
Dick Harpootlian, who has served as a Democrat within the South Carolina Senate since 2018, was defeated in an in depth race by main opponent Russell Ott. That is reported by the Publish and Courier.
Ott, a state consultant from South Carolina’s 93rd District, received 51% of the vote, in comparison with Harpootlian’s 49%, and is anticipated to keep away from an computerized recount, though Harpootlian might pay for one.
“We simply did one thing that lots of people did not assume we might do,” Ott advised his supporters who gathered on election night time. “We talked to everybody and I believe that was the razor skinny distinction on this race as a result of we labored arduous.”
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Alex Murdaugh, left, confers with lawyer Dick Harpootlian throughout Day 25 of Murdaugh’s double homicide trial on the Colleton County Courthouse on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State/Pool)
Harpootlian, who served as chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Celebration from 2011 to 2013, held a information convention Wednesday morning asserting he was conceding to Ott and congratulating him on his victory.
Harpootlian, 75, turned a nationwide determine lately after many years in South Carolina politics when he represented lawyer Alex Murdaugh in a double homicide case by which Murdaugh was in the end convicted of killing his spouse and son.
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Alex Murdaugh, left, speaks with lawyer Dick Harpootlian throughout Murdaugh’s double homicide trial on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State/Pool)
Murdaugh was sentenced to life in jail in 2023.
Harpootlian, who’s married to Jamie Harpootlian, a Biden-appointed ambassador to Slovenia, has mentioned he actually believes Murdaugh didn’t kill his spouse and son. In 2018, Harpootlian’s marketing campaign launched an advert narrated by now-President Biden saying Harpootlian was his “good good friend” and that he had recognized him for a “very long time.”
The commercialwhich featured a number of framed images of Biden and Harpootlian collectively, went on to say, “(Harpootlian) is a fighter who will cease at nothing to get issues achieved and make South Carolina a significantly better place.”
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Legal professional Dick Harpootlian (proper) and lawyer Jim Griffin communicate after their shopper Alex Murdaugh was discovered responsible on all counts for the homicide of his spouse and son on the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Swimming Pool)
“I’ve represented many, many, many responsible individuals,” he advised the viewers at CrimeCon final yr. “A few of them had been acquitted and that is nice. A few of them had been convicted and that is OK. I did my greatest. I’ve by no means had an harmless shopper convicted in 50 years, aside from this one.”
Ott publicly criticized Harpootlian, who was not a sitting senator as a result of his district had been moved, for agreeing to defend the disgraced lawyer.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter for Fox Information. Discover him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and e-mail tricks to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
Murdaugh lawyer Harpootlian loses Dem main in South Carolina race
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