Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics

Rita Allison is an unopposed candidate for District 36 this year after serving in the Legislature from 1993 to 2002. In her decade as a legislator, she sponsored measures to promote education, health care, tax reform, and economic development, and to curb child abuse and domestic violence. She returns to the House after serving as Education Advisor and then Legislative Director to Governor Mark Sanford, and, most recently, as Director of Communications for the Commission on Higher Education.

Ms. Allison's leadership credentials include serving on the District Five School Board of Trustees, as president of the SC and US Jaycee Auxiliaries, as SC Outstanding PTA President, and as a 30-year member of the Board of Directors for the Miss South Carolina Pageant. She is a recipient of the first Terry Haskins Legislative Leadership Award for outstanding service to South Carolina, and the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor bestowed by the state. She ran unsuccessfully for Lt. Governor in 2002.