GREENWOOD, S.C. — Two longtime Greenwood lawyers are on the ballot Tuesday, Nov. 3, for South Carolina House District 13, where Republican Rep. John McCravy is seeking another term against Democrat C. Rauch Wise.
District 13 reaches across sections of both Greenwood County and Laurens County. McCravy has held the seat since 2016 and won his last general election easily, beating Democrat Bill Kimler with 15,880 votes, or 74.8%, to 5,346 in 2024. This year he first had to clear a June 9 Republican primary, which he won over John Jefferson by 4,521 votes to 899. The Democratic primary was canceled, so Wise moved straight to the November ballot. House terms run two years, and there are no term limits on the seat.
McCravy leans on his record and his local roots. Early in his career he was a staff attorney for the state Supreme Court, and he later served as Greenwood city attorney from 1995 to 2004. He has practiced law for more than four decades and sits on the House Judiciary Committee and the Government Efficiency and Legislative Oversight Committee. Wise counts more than 50 years in law and says that experience taught him to weigh the other side and look for a middle ground.
The incumbent frames his agenda around protecting families and constitutional freedoms, easing household costs and holding government to account. He wants more income and property tax relief, bills on parental rights and religious liberty, insurance reform and steps on utility rates, and he lists Lake Greenwood, school choice and public safety among the things he would keep working on.
Wise is running on a different set of ideas. He would rework the new state income tax law, H. 4216, by widening the 1.99% bracket to cover more income as revenue grows instead of cutting the 5.21% rate charged above $30,000. He also wants to stop requiring doctors and other mandatory reporters to flag pregnant women for child abuse only because they admit drug use, arguing it scares women away from care, and he backs expanding Medicaid. He opposes gas tax cuts that would shortchange road upkeep.
On data centers, the two land closer together. McCravy is drafting the South Carolina Data Center Community Protection Act. His proposal sets statewide rules on water, power costs, noise and setbacks while letting counties go further. Wise says those projects deserve the same scrutiny as any heavy industry and that county zoning should have the final say.
Artificial intelligence draws a narrower split. McCravy wants targeted protections against fraud, identity theft and harm to children without heavy rules on small businesses. Wise wants a state ban on using a political opponent’s voice or likeness in campaign ads.
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