(AP) -- With no statewide races this primary season in South Carolina, most of the attention is focused on the primaries in the state's new 7th Congressional District.
A total of 13 major party candidates, including nine Republicans, are vying for nominations in the district reaching from Florence to the coast in the state's northeast corner.
Although Horry and Georgetown counties are strongly Republican, the district isn't necessarily a lock for the GOP.
That's according to Coastal Carolina University political scientist Holley Tankersley.
She says overall it's a relatively poor district with high unemployment and poverty rates away from the coast. And she says it's fairly diverse and about a third of the residents are black.
There are three other contested congressional primaries to be decided in the June 12 primary.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
