Clark holds off Harrison in sheriff race

By Bru Nimmons

Staff Reporter

bnimmons@thepccourier.com

Remember to VOTE April 1

COUNTY — Despite concerns over the lasting effects of the COVID-19 virus on elections, turnout in Pickens County proved to be impressive for Tuesday’s primary election.

Twenty-eight percent of registered voters cast ballots, compared to just 21 percent in 2018 in races to set the ballots for the Nov. 3 general election.

In the race for sheriff, incumbent Rick Clark defeated law enforcement veteran David Harrison by a 1,767-vote margin, with 10,340 votes to Harrison’s 8,573. Clark will face no opposition in November.

Runoffs will be the name of the game in two S.C. State House races, but for Pickens County Council, two candidates rose above the rest to win their party’s nomination.

In the District 3 race, former school board trustee Alex Saitta upset incumbent Wes Hendricks by a large margin to move on to an unopposed race in November. Saitta managed the most votes in a four-candidate field with 2,632. Hendricks and Debbie Gravely finished within shouting distance of each other with 970 and 861 votes, respectively, while Tim Robinson picked up 251 votes.

In the race to fill the District 6 seat currently held by Carl Hudson, former school board trustee Henry Wilson came away with a decisive victory, outgaining his closest competitor by more than 1,000 votes. Wilson managed to get 1,756 votes, followed by Derrick Craft, who had 702 votes. Darrell Gibbs finished third with 684 votes. Hudson is not seeking re-election.

District 4 and 5 county councilmen Roy Costner and Chris Bowers faced no opposition.

In the race for the State House of Representatives District 3 seat, Pickens County School Board trustee Phillip Bowers and retired businessman Jerry Carter will face off in a runoff to replace Gary Clary, who did not seek re-election this year. Carter led the voting with 1,718 votes, followed by Bowers’ 1,579. William Masters missed out on the runoff, garnering 643 votes. The winner of the runoff will face Democrat Eunice Lehmacher in the November election.

Elsewhere, in District 5, incumbent Neal Collins (2,970) and local businessman Allan Quinn (2,000) will move on to the runoff after a close Election Day battle, while fellow businessman David Cox finished third with 1,500 votes.

Incumbent West Cox squeaked by retired police officer Mark Durham in the Pickens County vote in the State House District 10 race, beating him 291 to 290 votes. Cox won the overall race, which also includes voters in Anderson and Greenville counties, 3,081 to 2,013.

District 4 Rep. Davey Hiott faced no opposition at the polls and will be without opposition again in November.

Pickens County’s two State Senate races were uncontested in Tuesday’s primary, with District 1’s Thomas Alexander and District 2’s Rex Rice facing no opposition in November as well.

Congressman Jeff Duncan faced no Republican opposition on Tuesday for his U.S. House of Representatives District 3 seat, but he will face Democrat Hosea Cleveland in November after Cleveland defeated Mark D. Welch for the Democratic nomination. Cleveland beat Welch 878 votes to 848 in Pickens County and garnered 11,758 votes throughout the district, compared to 8,736 for Welch.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham easily defeated foes Duke Buckner, Michael LaPierre and Joe Reynolds statewide, while also handily taking Pickens County. Graham took the county with 10,908 votes, followed by Pickens resident LaPierre, who had 5,451 votes. Reynolds and Buckner were a distant third and fourth, with 1,423 and 1,124 votes respectively.

With Graham’s decisive win statewide, he’ll face Constitution Party candidate Bill Bledsoe, Libertarian Keenan Wallace Dunham, Democrat Jaime Harrison and Libertarian David Weikle in the fall.

Many county officials faced no opposition at all, including Auditor Brent Suddeth, Treasurer Dale Looper, Coroner Kandy Kelley and Clerk of Court Pat Welborn.

Republican voters were also asked two questions at the polls, the first of which was whether they supported giving voters the right to register to vote with the political party of their choice. County voters overwhelmingly responded yes to the question, with 16,431 yes votes compared to 2,505 no votes. Voters were also asked if candidates for public office should be limited to having their names listed only once on a ballot for any office in each general election, with the answer also being a resounding one — 15,067 yes votes to 3,811 no votes.

The results listed are unofficial until they are certified and provisional/fail safe and emergency ballots are added and completed on Thursday.