Rep. Tom Rice declared victor in bid for 7th District

Just moments after the Associated Press declared U.S. Rep. Tom Rice the winner of South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District race, he gave credit to his supporters and wife, Wrenzie, for the victory -- a repeat of the 2010 vote when Rice became the first representative in the newly-created seat that spans eight counties in the northeastern corner of the state.

It wasn’t too many moments before that when supporters hushed the room to announce that Rice, R-Myrtle Beach, was comfortably ahead of his challenger, Gloria Bromell-Tinubu.

With 88.4 percent of precincts reporting, Rice had 60.15 percent of the votes compared with 39.85 percent for Bromell-Tinubu.