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A longtime fixture within the South Carolina Democratic Social gathering and the previous lawyer for convicted assassin Alex Murdaugh was defeated in a major for state senator on Tuesday night time.
Dick Harpootlian, who has served as a Democrat within the South Carolina state Senate since 2018, was defeated by major opponent Russell Ott in a slim race, The Publish and Courier reported.
Ott, a state consultant from South Carolina’s 93rd district, introduced in 51% of the vote, in comparison with Harpootlian’s 49%, and is predicted to keep away from an computerized recount, though Harpootlian may pay for one.
“We simply did one thing lots of people didn’t assume we have been going to have the ability to do,” Ott instructed his supporters gathered on election night time. “We talked to everybody, and I believe that’s what the razor-thin distinction on this race was, as a result of we put within the onerous work.”
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Alex Murdaugh, left, confers with protection 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 chair of the South Carolina Democratic Social gathering from 2011 to 2013, delivered a press convention on Wednesday morning asserting he was conceding to Ott and congratulating him on his victory.
Harpootlian, 75, grew to become a nationwide determine lately after many years in South Carolina politics when he represented lawyer Alex Murdaugh in a double homicide trial the place Murdaugh was ultimately convicted of killing his spouse and son.
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Alex Murdaugh, left, speaks with protection 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 really believes that 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 advert, which included a number of framed images of Biden and Harpootlian collectively, went on to say, “[Harpootlian] is a fighter who stops at nothing to get issues achieved and make South Carolina a significantly better place.”
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Protection lawyer Dick Harpootlian, proper, and Protection lawyer Jim Griffin communicate after their consumer Alex Murdaugh is 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/Pool)
“I’ve represented many, many, many responsible individuals,” he instructed the viewers at CrimeCon final yr. “A variety of them have been acquitted and that’s nice. A variety of them have been convicted and that’s OK. I did the most effective I may. I’ve by no means had an harmless consumer convicted apart from this one for 50 years.”
Ott publicly criticized Harpootlian, who was not an incumbent regardless of being a sitting state senator attributable to his district being moved, for agreeing to defend the disgraced lawyer.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox Information. Discover him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and e-mail tricks to [email protected].
