Beaufort County election night retrospective: A rundown of results, presidential leanings
The Nov. 5 general election brought a paradigm-shifting presidential pick, but voters in Beaufort County's local contests leaned toward the status quo. It was a night of incumbent wins in down-the-ballot races as residents voted three county council seat holders and a number of state legislators back into office. Voters also rejected the county's controversial "penny tax" proposed to fund infrastructure projects.
Turnout was just over 75% in Beaufort County, with 105,175 ballots cast out of 140,221 registered voters. That marks a 6.6% increase from November 2020, when residents cast 98,623 ballots for a turnout of 71%.
Although polls closed at 7 p.m., local results did not begin trickling in until about 9 p.m. due to a jam in one of the county's tabulators. Shortly after 9:30 p.m., Republican incumbent Nancy Mace was declared the winner for the U.S. House District 1 seat , which serves Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties.
Despite calls for change in the wake of a flurry of controversies, the makeup of Beaufort County Council remained unchanged , with incumbents Gerald Dawson, York Glover and Logan Cunningham winning back their seats for District 1, District 3 and District 7, respectively.
In another contest between old and new voices, voters in Beaufort elected former city council member Phil Cromer to be the city's next mayor. He earned 843 more votes than his young challenger Josh Scallate, who throughout his campaign stressed the importance of new leadership in city government.
The two contested seats in Beaufort City Council also went to incumbents. Mitch Mitchell and Neil Lipsitz were reelected to the board, edging out challengers Julie Crenshaw and Josh Gibson.
Hilton Head Town Council Ward 1 incumbent Alex Brown scored a decisive reelection. Ward 6's seat was won by political newcomer Melinda Tunner while Ward 3 went to Steve DeSimone, who served on the council in the early 2000s.
The lineup of state legislators representing Beaufort County also remained unchanged. Voters reelected Republicans Bill Hager, Jeff Bradley, Weston Newton and Bill Herbkersman to the South Carolina House. In the state senate, Democratic incumbent Margie Bright Matthews was reelected in an unopposed race.
Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election at 5:34 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Associated Press . In Beaufort County, the former president received 59,002 votes, representing 56.6% of the electorate, according to unofficial results from scvotes.org . Vice President Kamala Harris trailed behind with 43,886 votes or 42.1%.
Harris bested Trump in 22 of Beaufort County's 126 precincts, primarily in communities north of the Broad River. She won by the widest margin in Sheldon 2, receiving 419 votes or 82.1% over Trump's 87 or 17%.
For political junkies and fans of presidential politics, there's only 1,460 days left till the next general election on Nov. 7, 2028.
