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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Scott has easily won a second term representing South Carolina's 1st Congressional District along the state's coast.

Scott, the first black Republican to serve in the House from the state since Reconstruction, swept past Democrat Bobbie Rose, who was making her first run for political office. With about 30 percent of the precincts reporting, Scott had about 65 percent of the vote. Libertarian Keith Blandford was well behind Rose.

Rose says she ran to give voters a choice between a liberal Democrat and a tea party conservative.

Scott discounted accusations that he and other conservative Republicans were causing congressional gridlock in Washington. During the next two years, he says Congress needs to flatten the tax code and lower the corporate tax rate.