From staff reports
Phil Cromer will be sworn in as Mayor of the City of Beaufort at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19 at a Special Meeting of City Council.
The special election was held to fill the unexpired term of former Mayor Stephen Murray, who resigned from office in September. Cromer ran against former City Council Member Mike Sutton in the non-partisan race. This term will expire next December.
“Staff is doing everything we can to be sure Mayor Cromer is prepared to jump in with his fellow council members and be productive as soon as he takes office,” City Manager Scott Marshall said in a news release. “We’ve already set some time aside this week to get together to review the most immediate issues he will face.”
Votes certified
The Beaufort County Board of Elections and Voter Registration met at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 15 and certified the election results.
With all precincts now reporting, 1,857 of the 9,517 registered voters in the City of Beaufort went to the polls (19.51%). Cromer (1,218 votes, 65.62%) defeated Sutton (627, 33.78%) almost two to one. There were 11 write-in votes.
Road to the top
Cromer served on City Council from 2014 to 2022. He has a B.A. degree from the University of South Carolina and a joint Master’s degree from USC and the College of Charleston. He has an Associate in Risk Management from the Insurance Institute of America. He is also a U.S. Army veteran.
He has previously served as the town administrator of Ridgeland and town manager of Port Royal. Cromer was also a risk management consultant for the Municipal Association of South Carolina.
Cromer and his wife, Amelie, have two daughters and four grandchildren. He is a docent at Beaufort History Museum, president of the Beaufort County Historical Society, and president of St. Andrew’s Society of the Lowcountry.
