Riley, Corinne Boyd, 1893-1979

Corinne Boyd Riley (July 4, 1893 – April 12, 1979) was a teacher and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as U.S. Representative from South Carolina from 1962 to 1963.

Born Corinne Anderson Boyd in Piedmont, South Carolina, she attended public schools before graduating from Converse College in 1915 and serving as a high school teacher for the next twenty-two years. In 1917, she married John Jacob Riley. From 1938 to 1942, Corinne Riley worked as a field representative for the South Carolina textbook commission. During World War II, she joined the civilian personnel office at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. Her husband was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1944. Though an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1948, he won the Democratic nomination in 1950 and served until his death on January 1, 1962.

Following her husband's death, local and national leaders from both parties urged Corinne Riley to run in the special election to fill her husband’s seat. Riley faced an 11-term member of the state house of representatives, Martha T. Fitzgerald, in the February 1962 Democratic primary; it is believed to be the first time in South Carolina history that two women had competed against each other in a congressional election. After triumphing by more than a two-to-one margin, Corinne Riley was elected without opposition on April 10, 1962, serving from that date until January 3, 1963. Keeping to a campaign promise not to run for re-election, she was not a candidate for reelection to the 88th Congress in 1962. Riley died on April 12, 1979, in Sumter, South Carolina.