Washington wins Horry County Council District 3 race

Jimmy Washington will be District 3’s next Horry County councilman.

The 57-year-old Democrat defeated Republican Bob Kelly in Tuesday’s race for the seat that represents much of Myrtle Beach and part of Carolina Forest.

Unofficial results showed Washington receiving 51 percent of the votes cast. Kelly garnered 37 percent and 12 percent were write-in votes. Conservative Jason Morris had campaigned as a write-in candidate.

“When you work hard, good things happen,” a jubilant Washington said Tuesday night. “We worked our butts off and this was the outcome.”

A manager and corporate trainer for Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Washington is the only candidate in the race to have ever held public office. He was appointed to the District 3 seat on the Horry County Board of Education in 2013 to fill the unexpired term of Joe DeFeo after DeFeo was elected school board chairman. Washington was defeated when he ran for the seat against Republican Ray Winters last year.

Washington will again serve the remainder of an unexpired term. The District 3 seat became vacant in August when longtime councilman Marion Foxworth stepped down to become the county’s register of deeds. The term runs through next year.

Despite serving a short time on the school board, Washington says he developed good relationships with local leaders and those connections will serve him well on county council.

“I’m willing to sit down and work with council,” he said.

This campaign focused primarily on public safety issues, with both Washington and Kelly touting their support for hiring more police and improving officer pay.

Although a political novice, Kelly ran on his 25 years of service as a police officer in New Jersey. The Carolina Forest resident retired to the area about a decade ago. He could not be reached Tuesday night.

Morris, a local real estate agent, said he jumped into the race because of his dissatisfaction with the other candidates. Although the result wasn’t what he was looking for, Morris said he plans to run for the seat again next year.

“As a write-in candidate, honestly I feel like I did great,” he said. “I have a fantastic voters base, I feel like, for 2016.”

Washington plans to push for better police salaries after he’s seated on the council.

“I’m just ready to roll up my sleeves and go to work for District 3,” the Myrtle Beach native said.

Because of the Christmas holiday, the election results will be certified on Dec. 28.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 8:16 PM with the headline "Washington wins Horry County Council District 3 race."