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LEXINGTON, SC (WACH) - Republican Katrina Shealy, a petition candidate, has taken the lead of the South Carolina Senate District 23 race over incumbent Sen. Jake Knotts.

With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting, Shealy currently has 51 percent of the vote while Knotts has 44 percent.

Shealy was among 250 candidates statewide who were removed from the June 12 primaries due to improperly filed paperwork. She had to collect signatures from five percent of the registered voters in District 23 on a petition to get her name back on the November ballot.

Shealy said in August, “When I am elected to the State Senate people will not have to lay awake at night wondering what deal Jake Knotts is cutting or what scheme he is entering into to benefit himself."

Knotts has represented Lexington County as a senator since 2002 and beat Shealy in a primary runoff with 57 percent of the vote in 2008.