Editor's note (July 15, 2009): Mark Sanford left the state June 18 and returned six days later. He admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman he later called his "soul mate" and said he misled his staff into thinking he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. As a result, Sanford's name is no longer tossed around as a potential 2012 presidential candidate, but he's resolute about finishing the last 18 months of his second term.

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Mark Sanford won the 2002 Republican primary and runoff, surprising Republican insiders who expected Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler to win. Sanford ousted incumbent Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges with 53 percent of the vote.

In 2006, Sanford easily defeated Republican primary challenger Oscar Lovelace, a Prosperity physician, with 65 percent of the vote. He defeated Democrat Tommy Moore, a state senator from Clearwater, in the general election with 55 percent of the vote.

He previously won three elections to the U.S. House in 1994, 1996 and 1998 before honoring a term limits pledge.

(Last updated by Seanna Adcox on March 23, 2009.)

Jim DeMint won his U.S. Senate seat in 2004, defeating then-state schools superintendent and Democrat Inez Tenenbaum with 54 percent of the vote.

DeMint ran after giving up his House seat in 2004 to honor his term limit pledge and ran for retiring Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings' seat. He emerged from a six-way primary to challenge former Gov. David Beasley in a runoff that he won with 59 percent of the vote before winning the general election.

He won a U.S. House seat in 1998, defeating Democratic state Sen. Glenn Reese with 58 percent of the vote.

In 2000, he was re-elected with 80 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2002 with 69 percent of the vote.

(Last updated by Seanna Adcox on March 23, 2009.)

Lindsey Graham was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. Graham had no GOP challenger and faced Alex Sanders, a popular former state senator, in the 2002 election. At the time, it was the most expensive U.S. Senate race in the state's history. Graham won 54 percent of the vote.

Graham easily won a second term in 2008 against a little-known and under-funded Democratic challenger, Bob Conley, with 58 percent of the vote.

Graham was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 with 60 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat James Bryan Jr. to replace retiring Rep. Butler Derrick, and becoming the first Republican to win the seat since 1877. In 1996, he was re-elected with 61 percent of the vote, in 1998 without opposition and in 2000 with 68 percent of the vote.

Graham was elected to the state House in 1992.

(Last updated by Seanna Adcox on March 27, 2009.)