Conway: Blain-Bellamy unseats Lawson as mayor, Smith and 2 incumbents win council seats

Barbara Blain-Bellamy unseated Conway Mayor Alys Lawson on Tuesday, and a newcomer will join city council.

Blain-Bellamy, 63, who currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem, is a lawyer who has served two terms on city council, having been elected in 2011 and serving a previous term in the mid-1990s. She was mayor pro tem in 1996.

Blain-Bellamy, who won with 1,218 of the votes to Lawson’s 926 in unofficial returns, did not return repeated calls for comment Tuesday. Lawson, mayor since 2008, was in city hall watching the returns roll in, and said she was disappointed.

“I’m very disappointed that after seven years of hard work and dedication, to not be re-elected,” said Lawson, 54.

Ashley Smith, 45, a teacher at Conway Elementary School, will join city council after winning 1,214 votes for one of three available seats. Incumbents Larry White and Tom Anderson were re-elected with 1,218 and 1,018 votes, respectively.

“It feels great,” Smith said Tuesday night in Conway city hall, where candidates and their families gathered to watch the results. “I’ve been working toward this my whole life.”

Smith said he’s held many positions in Conway and has worked with the city for several years, but politics is a new foray. He said as long as he’s honest and does what’s best for Conway, he’ll be fine.

“It’s just another way to serve the community,” he said. “As long as you’re honest and tell the truth, you’ll do great.”

Larry White, 61, who works for Health Care Partners of South Carolina, said he’s also excited about the outcome: “Now we can get back to work and do what we need to do.”

Anderson said he’ll wait for the election commission to certify the results before celebrating.

“It’s not over until the commissioner says it’s over,” said Anderson, 48.

Alicia Todd garnered 922 votes and Danner Thompson won 480 votes. There was one write-in vote for city council.

Election Commissioner Boyd Gainey said the commission has 26 provisional ballots they’ll review Wednesday at 10 a.m. before finalizing the results. He said those ballots shouldn’t cause a runoff or recount in either election.

City council members are elected at large in nonpartisan elections and serve four-year terms. The mayor is paid an annual salary of $16,000, the mayor pro tem makes $11,000 and other council members earn $10,000.

There are 13 precincts in Conway and a total of 4,853 votes were cast in the council race. A total of 2,144 votes were case in the mayoral race. Red Hill #1 precinct did not have a single vote cast in this election.

All elected officials will take their new seats on the first city council meeting in January 2016.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Conway: Blain-Bellamy unseats Lawson as mayor, Smith and 2 incumbents win council seats."