Republican primary forum in Bluffton called off amid accusations of bias
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A planned public forum featuring the two Republican candidates running for Beaufort County Sheriff has been canceled after candidate Doug Seifert withdrew from the event, alleging bias among the organizers.
The forum, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at Bluffton Elementary School, was set to feature Republican candidates Doug Seifert and JoJo Woodward discussing their visions for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office ahead of the June 9 Republican primary election.
Seifert announced over the weekend that he would no longer participate, pointing to what he described as “obvious bias” connected to organizer Mike Covert, a former Beaufort County Council member and host of the political podcast “Beaufort County’s House of Cards.”
In a public statement, Seifert referenced a 2022 Facebook post promoting a previous political meet-and-greet that included both Covert and Woodward among the featured candidates.
“Evidenced by this post, it is clear that the organizer backed my opponent in his second unsuccessful bid to become Beaufort County Sheriff,” Seifert wrote. “The Beaufort County residents deserve a fair and impartial forum for the candidates to be heard.”
The cancellation comes during a closely watched sheriff’s race that was left open after longtime Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner announced earlier this year that he would not seek an eighth term.
Seifert, a 20-year veteran of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and former lieutenant, has been endorsed by Tanner.
Woodward, a former sheriff’s office captain, is making his third run for sheriff and has campaigned on promises of leadership changes, higher deputy pay and expanded traffic enforcement.
Democrat Alphonso Small Jr., a current Beaufort County School Board member, is also running for sheriff and will face the winner of the Republican primary in the Nov. 3 general election.
In an interview Monday with The Island News, Covert said the forum was intended to be an independent, community-focused event rather than a partisan debate.
“The whole idea of this forum was that it would be a non-political party-backed thing,” Covert said. “The atmosphere, we wanted it to be very relaxed and not a debate, more of a forum.”
According to Covert, both campaigns initially agreed to participate and had confirmed the date and location multiple times before concerns began surfacing over social media posts and promotional materials.
Part of the controversy centered around an AI-generated promotional flyer that used altered candidate photos.
Seifert publicly criticized the image, saying it made him appear older while using what he described as a more polished image of Woodward.
Covert defended the flyer, saying the image was never intended to portray Seifert negatively and was quickly replaced after complaints were raised.
“It was an AI-generated flyer. Like 90% of flyers are done these days,” Covert said. “I retracted it, and I found another picture of him, got it on there, and then she and I decided, let’s just get rid of that, and we’ll do a complete new one.”
Covert also disputed allegations that the forum was designed to favor Woodward, noting that organizers intentionally included moderators from different parts of the county and different political backgrounds.
The planned moderators included Covert, Heather Malia Rath of Hilton Head Island, who co-organized the event with Covert, and Port Royal resident Mare Deckard, whom Covert described as a Democrat.
Questions planned for the forum would have covered topics including Sheriff’s Office budgeting, traffic enforcement, community engagement, unsolved murders and drug enforcement, according to Covert.
Among the proposed questions were inquiries involving Woodward’s presence near the scene of the 2021 killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in Colleton County, after disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and youngest son, as well as Seifert’s involvement in the 2025 arrest of Beaufort County Sheriff’s Deputy William “Billy” Squires, who was accused of pointing his service weapon at a group of teenage boys walking through his Hilton Head neighborhood while Squires was off duty and under the influence of alcohol. Authorities later said no weapons were found on the teenagers.
Following Seifert’s withdrawal, Woodward released a statement distancing himself from the cancellation.
“JoJo did not cancel. JoJo did not withdraw,” the statement read. “He was ready to show up — because he always is.”
Following the cancellation, Covert defended the forum organizers in a lengthy Facebook post, arguing that sharing a 2022 campaign flyer featuring himself and Woodward did not amount to political bias.
Covert also noted that Rath had attended Sheriff P.J. Tanner’s election night event in the past, questioning whether the same logic would then label her biased toward Seifert, who has Tanner’s endorsement.
In the post, Covert wrote that neither organizer had discussed a “preferred” candidate and said both campaigns had previously confirmed the date, time and location of the event before Seifert’s withdrawal.
Despite withdrawing from the May 19 forum, Seifert continued campaign appearances this week.
In a Tuesday, May 12 post shared by the Seifert for Sheriff campaign following a candidate event hosted by the Lady’s Island Business and Professional Association, Seifert wrote that he “enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a Q&A forum” with Woodward and described it as a “great crowd, great conversation, and great opportunity.”
Rath also addressed the cancellation in a Facebook post over the weekend.
“Michael E. Covert and I worked very hard to organize a forum for the Republican Sheriff’s Primary,” Rath wrote. “It was an effort that also consumed a tremendous amount of my personal time, and I was looking forward to hearing directly from the candidates and learning more about their platforms.”
Rath added that the event would not be rescheduled, but said she hoped both candidates would still appear on another platform so voters could hear directly from them before the June 9 Republican primary.
“Please research and go vote,” she wrote.
“The real losers here are the citizens,” Covert told The Island News. “We both spent a lot of time, a lot of energy … and to have it end like this is sad.”
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.