PICKENS COUNTY—Pickens County Sheriff Candidate Rick Clark is threatening to remove Sheriff David Stone from the post he has occupied for over 40 years.
Clark and Stone finished 1-2 Tuesday’s Republican Primary and will now compete in a runoff election June 26 to determine which candidate will battle for the sheriff’s seat in November against Independent candidate Keith Culbreath.
The race for Pickens County Sheriff was one of the most closely contested races in the County on Election Day Tuesday, with Clark receiving 257 more votes than Stone. Clark received 42.85 percent of the vote, totaling 4,051 votes, while Stone only received 40.13 percent totaling 3,794 votes. Billy Looper was eliminated, acquiring 17.02 percent of the vote with 1,609 total votes.
Tuesday’s election was Stone’s 12th time running for office, and he says he would like to continue to serve the people of Pickens County as sheriff.
“I’ve always been very proud of the people I have here,” said Stone. “I’m dedicated to the work. I love the work, and I will certainly try to go beyond what we have now. I just want to continue to serve the citizens in a way that they would be happy with.”
Clark, however, says it’s time for a change.
“This time people are definitely ready for a change, and I’m as excited as I have been at any campaign,” said Clark. “It would be the greatest honor to work with the guys that we have at the sheriff’s office now, and I’m excited about what we can do for the citizens in the county in the future.”
Other races of interest around Pickens County included several State House of Representative contests in local districts.
Representing District 4, Davey Hiott defeated Vicky Wynn in a landside to win his primary. Hiott received 80.89 percent of the vote, acquiring 3,458 total votes.
Joshua Putnam defeated Hamp Johnson 173 votes to 112 in the Republican race for State House District 10. Putnam received 60.7 percent of the vote in route to victory.
Voters chose Ed J. Harris over B.R. Skelton in the Primary race for District 3. Harris received 51.62 percent of the vote, totaling 1,145 votes.
Bryan Ryan B. Doyle defeated Cason Gaither in the Democratic Primary for District 3. Doyle received 53.49 percent of the vote.
In Anderson County—Incumbent Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper was unopposed in his bid for re-election Tuesday’s Republican Primary after all the other candidates were among nearly 200 candidates around the states who were disqualified from running because of a decision by the State Supreme Court.
The candidates were disqualified last week after the High Court said the candidates in question met the March 30 deadline for submitting paperwork but did not submit two different documents at the same time as required by law. Creed Hashe, who was challenging Skipper for Sheriff, was among those who were disqualified last week.
Post a Comment
