By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
The stage is set, at least for now.
Last week’s filing deadline for the June 9 Republican and Democratic primaries produced a flurry of individuals interested in serving the voters, … some surprises, some not so surprising.
The Beaufort County sheriff’s race, of course, got exciting after P.J. Tanner announced, one week before the March 30 filing deadline, that he wasn’t going to run again. Needless to say, there was some behind-the-scene scrambling among local politicos before Doug Seifert and JoJo Woodward stepped forth to file on the Republican ticket and Democrat Alphonso Small Jr. paid to put his name on the Democratic ticket.
Both Seifert, who has received Tanner’s endorsement, and JoJo Wardward have worked with the sheriff’s department under Tanner’s administration, while Woodward has run in two previous elections.
Small, from Bluffton, is a member of the county Board of Education but has law enforcement experience as well.
The other surprise, as last week’s The Island Newsreported, was the arrival of former Governor Mark Sanford into the First Congressional District race, on the last day of filing. Sanford, who beat-out 16 fellow Republicans in the 2013 congressional race, will face 10 Republicans in June, including Beaufort County Councilman Logan Cunningham who wishes to serve voters from Washington.
The winner of that Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary, where seven have filed, plus candidates from the Libertarian and Alliance party, whose candidate Margo Ellis has already been campaigning locally.
While neither of the county’s two state senators – Tom Davis of District 46 (which no longer includes city of Beaufort and Port Royal) and Chip Campsen of District 43 (which does include Beaufort, Port Royal and parts of Charleston County) – are up for election this year but all of the county’s five state House of Representative races drew competition.
Indeed, for the first time in recent memory, the state Democratic Party has recruited candidates for all 124 state House races. Locally, that means:
District 118 (Hilton Head Island): Incumbent Bill Herbkersman, Republican who has held the seat since 2002, will face Democrat Bernie Scolaro in November.
District 120 (Bluffton): Incumbent Weston Newton, Republican, will face the winner in the Democratic primary, Debbie Subera-Wiggin or Robert Weinfield.
District 121 (St. Helena Island, Burton): Incumbent Michael Rivers, the county’s only Democrat in the state legislature, will face opposition from within his own party, Rev. Shannon DeLoach on the June primary ballot. The winner will face Republican Shelley Gay Yuhas in November.
District 123 (Hilton Head Island, Jasper County): Incumbent Jeff Bradley, Republican, will face the winner in the Democratic primary, Willie Aiken or Ann Shippy.
District 124 (Beaufort, Port Royal): Incumbent Shannon Erickson, Republican, will face Democrat Shauna Bishop in November.
The eight Beaufort County Council seats on the ballot this year drew considerable interest.
Three members, all Republicans – Chairwoman Alice Howard of District 4, which includes Port Royal, Shell Point, parts of Mossy Oaks, has opted not to run for a fourth term as well as Joseph Passiment of District 5 which includes Sun City and Larry McElynn of District 10, Hilton Head Island.
Candidates who DID file include;
District 2: Incumbent David Bartholomew, a Republican, has no opposition in the primary or general election.
District 4: Michael Anderson and Thomas A. Grygowski, both Republicans, will face off in the primary to take the seat held by Howard.
District 5: Joshua Hower, Joe Maiorano and Mary Jeans Otto, Republicans, will run in the primary. The winner will challenge Lynn Gerson, Democrat, in November for the seat now held by Passiment.
District 6: Incumbent Tab Tabernick, council vice chair, will face Democrat Carolyn Fournier on the November ballot.
District 8: Incumbent Paula Brown will face competition from Kraig Gordon in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Bill Beltz in November.
District 9: Incumbent Mark Lawson will face Beth Gillespie in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Jannine Mutterer in November.
District 10: Republican John Casey will face Democrat Travis Ludwig-Hodges in November to fill the seat held by McElynn.
District 11: Incumbent Tom Reitz will face Elizabeth Libby Galloway-Dextraze in the Republican primary.
County Treasurer Maria Walls, a Republican, will face opposition from Democrat Scott Songer in the November election. Auditor David Cadd, a Republican will be running against Democrat Carletha Frazier in November.
Probate Judge Heather Galvin, a Republican is running unopposed.
Seven Beaufort County Board of Education seats will be on the November ballot but since the seats are non-partisan, candidates don’t have to run in the primaries.
Filing for the school board, which takes place with the county elections office, has an Aug. 17 deadline. Former board chairman Dick Geier of District 4 (Port Royal, Beaufort) and Chloe Gordon of District 2 (Beaufort, Lady’s Island) have announced their plans not to seek re-election.
Victor Ney of District 5 (Burton, Okatie, Bluffton) has already filed for re-election and Genie Brainerd of Lady’s Island has already made public her plans to run for the District 2 (Beaufort, Lady’s Island) seat.
Other seats open include: District 7 (Bluffton), now represented by Dick Carr; District 10 (Hilton Head) now represented by Elizabeth Hey; District 3 (St. Helena Island) now represented by William Smith; District 8 (Hilton Head Island), now represented by board Chairman Carlton Dallas.
Two Beaufort City Council seats will be on the November ballot for Beaufort city voters. The terms of Mayor Pro-tem Michael McFee and Councilman Josh Scallate are up. Filing for the city offices begins July 1 with an Aug. 15 deadline.
Port Royal town council is on an alternate schedule and will not have elections this year.
Of course, there’s the gubernatorial, state board of education, state treasurer races and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s future to follow so, plenty to watch besides the FIFA World Cup.
For the best information on state voting, check out scvotes.gov, … lots of information there especially about voting procedures and polling place locations which are subject to change.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. The Rowland, N.C. native’s goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.