Atlantic Beach, SC picks new mayor, town council, according to unofficial election results
EDITOR’S NOTE: There are 18 Atlantic Beach ballots that were challenged and are not included in the unofficial totals, according to Atlantic Beach election commission Chairman Joe Montgomery. The challenged ballots will be reviewed during Thursday’s election certification. (Updated: 2 p.m. 11/8/2023)
Josephine Isom will take over as mayor of Atlantic Beach for the next four years, with incumbent Jacqui Gore and newcomer Carla Taylor joining the town council after the Nov. 7 election.
All results are unofficial until they can be certified by local and county election staffers, which is expected to happen over the next several days.
Isom, Gore and Taylor will preside over the Horry County town, which has 244 registered voters. The historically Black beach town is divided over a proposed $100 million high-rise hotel and condominium complex.
Mayor
Atlantic Beach residents chose Josephine Isom as the town’s new mayor. Isom took 56% of the 111 total votes.
The current mayor-pro-tem said she’s lived in the town since 1962 and supports the high-rise proposal. Isom first took a seat on Atlantic Beach’s town council in 2009.
“I hope we can all work together to protect and preserve and beautify Atlantic Beach,” Isom said by phone.
Isom beat out fellow town council member John W. David Jr. for the mayoral position.
Town Council
Incumbent Jacqui Gore and newcomer Carla Taylor will serve on Atlantic Beach’s town council, as they cleared a field of four to take spots on the board. Gore took 32% of the votes and Taylor received 25%, with less than 10 votes separating Taylor from challengers Shaun Swinson and Jerry Leo Finney.
Gore first joined the council in 2015 and said by phone, “We’re going to bring jobs, we’re going to bring that high rise to Atlantic Beach.”
Taylor said she looks forward to following in the footsteps of her mother, who served on the Atlantic Beach Town Council. “This is my hometown, I will do what I can to see that it grows and prospers,” Taylor said.
This story was originally published November 7, 2023 at 9:05 PM.
