By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Port Royal has a new mayor.
Kevin Phillips won the majority of the vote over incumbent Joe DeVito in Port Royal’s mayoral election Tuesday night.
According to the unofficial results posted by the South Carolina Election Commission, Phillips received just over 60% of the vote with 628 votes and DeVito received almost 40% of the vote with 411 total votes.
“It’s kind of overwhelming at the moment,” Phillips said of his win. “I’m sunburned, I’m dirty and I’m exhausted, but I couldn’t be happier or more proud of the people who have helped me along the way. But mostly I’m just happy for the Town of Port Royal.”
Phillips said that he was out campaigning from 6:30 a.m. on Paris Avenue along with DeVito.
This is the second political office that Phillips has held, the first being a seat on the Port Royal Town Council, a role that he was elected to in 2019.
DeVito was campaigning for his second term as mayor.
“One of the things I really tried to do with this election is get out and talk to all of the communities of Port Royal,” Phillips said. “We have a much more diverse community than most people know. We have a lot of military families, we have young families, working families, retiree families, we have people who have lived here their whole life, we have people who have just moved here, so it’s a lot more diverse than most people think of when they think of Port Royal.”
He also said that he wants to keep the momentum going on the capital projects that have been started in Port Royal over the past few years.
Phillips also said that it is important to continue working on the port development and to remain “vigilant” on that.
Overall, Phillips said that he wants to focus on development and growth, and he plans to make sure that residents of Port Royal are heard.
Phillips said that DeVito called to concede the race and wish him well around not long after the final update with 100% of the precincts reporting, around 10 p.m.
In addition to the mayoral race, there were two open seats on the Port Royal Town Council, as well.
Jorge Guerrero and incumbent Jerry Ashmore ran unopposed for the two open seats.
Guerrero won 645 votes and Ashmore received 826 votes.
This will be Ashmore’s third term as a Council member and the first time he has run unopposed for the seat.
Ashmore said that even though he ran unopposed, he still wanted to campaign and get out and meet the constituents that he would be representing.
“I want to earn this job. I wanted people to see that I’m willing to work hard to get it and I will work hard once I’m elected,” Ashmore said.
This election was particularly special for Ashmore because it was the first time his daughter, who is a senior at Beaufort High School, voted.
Guerrero, who is a newcomer to Port Royal’s Town Council, said that he is excited to get to work.
“I’ve got to learn the role and to see how we can contribute to the team,” Guerrero said.
He said that he would like to include all the communities that make up Port Royal in the conversation about Port Royal’s future and reiterated that Port Royal is more than Paris Avenue and the downtown area.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She 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.
Incumbent Town of Port Royal Town Councilman Jerry Ashmore does a little last minute campaigning Tuesday, Nov. 7 along Paris Ave. Mayoral candidates Kevin Phillips and Joe Devito were also campaigning along Paris Ave. Bob Sofaly/The Island News
