Injured South Carolina candidate to return to campaign in July: officials
(Reuters) - South Carolina congressional candidate Katie Arrington expects to recover from injuries suffered in a car crash on Friday that killed one and plans to return to the campaign trail in two weeks, government and hospital officials said on Monday.
Republican Arrington, 47, defeated incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Sanford in a June 12 nominating contest that turned heavily on Sanford’s opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump, who supported the challenger.
Arrington was a passenger in a car driven by her friend Jacqueline Goff when a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction struck their car, fracturing Arrington’s back, breaking several ribs and causing other injuries, including trauma to her abdomen.
Tim Scott, a Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina, told a news conference on Monday that Arrington was expected to be on the campaign trail by mid-July. During a hospital visit, Scott said Arrington wrote a note stating that she will “be back at it” in two weeks.
Physical therapy will determine how well she recovers from her injuries, said Evert Eriksson, a surgeon from the Medical University of South Carolina, during the news conference.
“There is no reason to think she won’t be able to walk,” Eriksson said. “I expect her to make a very quick recovery from this.”
Goff, 59, of Mandeville, Louisiana, was also in recovery, officials said.
The Charleston County coroner’s office identified the woman killed in the crash as Helen White, 69, of Ravenel, South Carolina. White was the driver of the other vehicle, according to Arrington’s campaign.
Arrington made Sanford’s criticism of Trump a theme of her campaign in the primary contest, and Trump weighed into the race, tweeting hours before the polls closed that Sanford was “nothing but trouble” and “very unhelpful to me.”
Arrington’s Democratic opponent in the fall election, Joe Cunningham, said in a statement that he and his wife were praying for Arrington’s recovery and that he was suspending campaign activities until further notice.
Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Scott Malone and Dan Grebler
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