In 2000, Verdin ran for the District 9 South Carolina Senate seat as a conservative Republican and defeated a 16-year Democratic incumbent, Jim Bryan, in an upset election, winning 54% of the vote. Verdin's election shifted the balance of power in the South Carolina Senate by creating a 23–23 tie between Republicans and Democrats. Anticipating that the Senate rules would be re-written to favor Republicans and that Republican Senate President (and Lieutenant Governor) Bob Peeler would break the tie in the Republicans' favor, long-time Democratic Senator Jefferson Verne Smith (Greenville) switched his party affiliation to Republican in order to retain his powerful committee chairmanship.) This switch resulted in the end of more than a century of Democratic control of the South Carolina Senate.