The official results are in: Horry County has its next class of elected leaders
The Horry County Board of Elections certified 2018 midterm election results Friday morning after deciding which provisional and fail-safe ballots would count.
As of 11 a.m. Friday, Horry County now knows officially who its next leaders will be.
The 2018 midterm election saw record turnout, with over 50 percent of registered voters showing up to the polls in Horry County. Despite some reported issues with curbside voting and long lines at polls, the results were certified without any objections from candidates or political parties.
No election required a recount. The certified results are mostly similar to the unofficial results released Tuesday, with most changes coming from ballots not yet approved from that total. No elections were changed during the audit and certification process, but now winning candidates are officially the winner’s of their race.
The only upset in local races was the District 7 race for Horry County Council between challenger Orton Bellamy and incumbent Harold Phillips. Bellamy is the first Republican to win the seat, getting 4,434 votes. Phillips, the incumbent, narrowly lost with 4,081.
Phillips will continue to serve on county council through the end of the year. Bellamy will join county chair-elect Johnny Gardner as the two new members of county council when their terms begin at the start of 2019.
The other final results indicate it was a good election for Republicans as the party won every contested race it had in the county.
For the Horry County School Board, both Republican incumbents won. In District 1, Holly Heniford took 9,163 votes compared to challenger Micah Gore’s 3,794 votes. Neil James won 6,130 votes in the District 10 race compared to Democrat challenger Shakedra Jenerette’s 2,137 votes.
Republican Tom Rice received 74,987 votes in Horry, defeating Democrat challenger Robert Williams who got 35,659 votes. The race was for the District 7 seat to the United States House of Representatives, which includes more than just Horry County, but Rice ultimately won his re-election.
The Horry delegation to Columbia will remain red. Incumbent Russell Fry received 13,198 votes in the District 106 election compared to his challenger, Democrat Robin Gause’s 5,779 votes. For the District 68 race, incumbent Heather Crawford took 9,457 votes to Libertarian challenger Cameron Ventura’s 2,408 votes.
The referendum advisory question on impact fees passed by an even larger margin, getting 76,000 votes instead of the originally reported 74,000 votes. The response is a clear sign that Horry County voters want new development to cover some of the burden it places on local government.