Although the results will not become official until Friday, preliminary tallies indicate that MaryGail Douglas will represent the Democratic Party in the November general election for the District 41 seat in the S.C. State House of Representatives.
Douglas beat out District 4 School Board Trustee Annie E. McDaniel with 2,732 votes in Fairfield County (57.86 percent) to McDaniel’s 1,990 (42.14 percent). Douglas also picked up an additional 52 votes from District 41 voters in Richland County and Chester County in the race. McDaniel added 208 to her total with out-of-county votes.
Douglas will face William Gray, a Ridgeway Republican, in the November race for the House.
Meanwhile, in a nail-biter, Herman Young appears to have earned another term as Fairfield County Sheriff. Young edged out challenger Will Montgomery by just 176 votes – 2,480 to 2,304. Young won 51.84 percent of the vote while Montgomery garnered 48.16 percent. It was not clear at press time if a recount would be necessary. Young will face no opposition in November.
Young performed best in Blair, taking 87.5 percent of the vote in that precinct. Montgomery’s best numbers came from Centerville, where he brought in 75 percent of the vote. The narrowest margin came out of Hickory Ridge, where Young won 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent. Young also held the edge in absentee ballots with 53.03 percent to Montgomery’s 46.97 percent.
In the House race, Douglas saw her best numbers come out of Gladden Grove where she won 90.91 percent of the vote. McDaniel got her best returns from Jenkinsville, her home turf, where she took 86.24 percent of the vote. Douglas also won 70.2 percent of the absentee ballots, 415 of which were cast prior to Tuesday’s vote.
