Will Montgomery
WINNSBORO – The numbers are in, the results are final and on his third run for the office, Will Montgomery was tabbed by voters Tuesday night to represent the Democratic Party on the ballot in the Nov. 18 special election to fulfill the remaining two years on Herman Young’s term as Fairfield County Sheriff. With no Republicans declaring for the office, Tuesday’s results all but assure Montgomery’s ascension into the Sheriff’s Office.
Montgomery earned 56.25 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary runoff with 2,787 votes over Keith Lewis’s 43.75 percent and 2,168 votes.
Both men picked up votes from their performances in the Sept. 30 primary. Montgomery, who brought in 1,613 votes on Sept. 30, picked up 1,174 votes on the campaign trail in the last two weeks. Lewis, meanwhile, picked up 573 votes over his Sept. 30 numbers.
More people voted in Tuesday night’s runoff than in the Sept. 30 primary, by 177 votes.
Montgomery will be the only name on the Nov. 18 special election ballot. Write-in candidates may make a run at the office, but not if they have already been rejected by voters in the primary.
Phone calls to Lewis and to Montgomery were not returned at press time Tuesday night.
Young stepped down in July halfway through his four-year term because of health reasons.
Montgomery comes from a long line of Fairfield County lawmen. His father, Bubba Montgomery, and his grandfather, S. Leroy Montgomery, both served as Fairfield County Sheriff for 12 years each. Montgomery is a shift supervisor with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, where he has worked for the last 13 years.
