Sanders’s path into elected office is wound tightly around his family. West Pelzer’s former mayor, S.C. Rep. Blake Sanders, is his son—a reversal of the usual generational script that people in town like to point out. During Blake’s last term, residents urged Rick to run, but, he says, “I really just had too many irons in the fire.”

Only after time and circumstance aligned did he decide to run for council, and then, almost immediately, for mayor, when that seat opened. In the span of two months, he found himself elected twice, first as a council member and then as the town’s chief elected official, a compressed political education in a place where almost everyone already knows his name.

“We see a lot of different people,” Phillips said. There are those who are “literally homeless,” carrying their entire lives in backpacks or plastic bags, and there are others who have a house but no functioning heat, no electricity, no way to make the cold relent once they close their front door. For them, Hope Missions is less a shelter than a last resort against a particular kind of Southern winter, one that brings damp, bone‑deep chill. The center exists “to provide a warm and safe place for folks,” a phrase that sounds understated until one imagines the alternative.

On Thursday Anderson County council declared a state of emergency, which, layered atop the governor’s statewide disaster order, was less a piece of theater than a key, unlocking additional funding and the possibility of federal assistance if the ice storm developing on weather maps reached the threshold of a declared disaster.

In a meeting at the historic courthouse with online connections to those who lead first responders, Emergency Management Director Josh Hawkins offered the latest from the National Weather Service that sketched out a storm expected to be neither sudden nor dramatic, but relentless, as he informed and organized those who will be charged with meeting the potential challenges.

The show, on display through February and likely into early March, gathers work from more than two dozen artists—from high school students to established professionals—showcasing a spectrum of talent that stretches across generations and artistic styles.

The measure amends the Anderson County Code of Ordinances to spell out intensity standards and traffic impact analysis requirements for certain projects. The changes are intended to address design capacity on county roads and to clarify when a traffic impact study must be completed as a condition of development approval.

Rep. Beach said he and other conservative lawmakers have studied how other states manage road funding, pointing to Minnesota’s merit-based transportation leadership and focus on preservation as a model for South Carolina to follow. He said the group has discussed creating elected regional road commissioners responsible for maintenance in specific areas, rather than relying solely on appointees in Columbia.

It is easy to forget that his national holiday, now so settled on the calendar as to seem ancient, required a struggle of its own, a 32–year campaign to persuade the country that his life and death belonged in the civic liturgy. That long fight for a Monday in January says as much about the man as it does about the nation that took more than a generation to decide it was ready to honor him.

In its thirty-second year, Anderson Christmas Lights—still colloquially “Anderson Lights of Hope” to many locals—did not break records, at least not in the way nonprofit directors are often trained to crave. The numbers were, as the organizer puts it, “average,” a season that settled squarely in the middle when set against three decades of attendance and revenue.

Around 25,000 people drove or walked beneath the displays this year, roughly 61 percent of them who live outside of Anderson County, making the holiday park both a regional pilgrimage as a neighborhood tradition. 

Third reading is scheduled on the 2026 Comprehensive Plan (summary here), which aims to act as the county’s navigational chart through 2036, covering population growth, housing needs, and the optimal arrangement of community facilities.

Throughout 2026, museum programs will move chronologically, from the fraught decision to carve a new county out of Pendleton to the more modern eras that layered mills, highways, and subdivisions over old farmsteads, with a planned culmination near December 20, the date when the General Assembly approved Anderson’s creation.

Roberts said the gathering offers Anderson an annual opportunity to “come together in unity, reflect on how far we have come, and renew our commitment to the work that still lies ahead.” He said he hopes the breakfast will send attendees back into the community with renewed determination to live out King’s principles in daily life.

“When we began to work with the spill issue over here in this area It was astonishing that a major company, New York Stock Exchange Company, did so little to maintain their properties,” said Anderson County Councilwoman Cindy Wilson. “And so many people have been affected by the contaminants.

A “Rally Against ICE for Human Rights” is scheduled for Saturday from 2-4 p.m. on the grounds of the Anderson County Courthouse.
The event is billed as a peaceful protest and is being hosted by “concerned citizens of Anderson County,” according to a flyer being circulated on social media.

“This expansion is a game-changer for our students, our employers, and our region,” said DeHay. “These programs form the backbone of our economy and provide pathways to great careers with strong earning potential. In total, this expansion will allow us to serve more than a thousand students across eight programs.”

The forecast grew out of an idea by Rick Smythe, director of the Ron Blue Center at Anderson University, who envisioned bringing economists and investment professionals together on campus to share their outlook for the year. Smythe has worked in investments for three decades and said the goal is to take what experts are seeing in the economy and “translate it down to how regular folks can do these things.”

If the plan holds, the Jenkins House will not return as a sealed-off museum but as the centerpiece of a park and gardens open to anyone who wanders up the hill.  The property, once the private realm of a 19th-century doctor and his descendants, are being reimagined as common ground, where the town’s past and present meet under those enormous white oaks.

City of Anderson voters will head to the polls April 7 to choose a mayor and multiple City Council members, with candidate filing opening at noon today, and closing at noon January 29.

The municipal election is set for April 7, with any necessary runoff scheduled for April 21.  Anyone wishing to vote in the election or a runoff must be registered no later than March 7.

Prospective candidates must begin the filing process at the Anderson County Registration and Elections Office, 301 N. Main St., then submit the required forms and a filing fee of $300 for mayor or $200 for council to the City Clerk and Treasurer at City Hall, 401 S. Main St.

It’s an election year, and the Anderson Observer sent questions to the leadership of the county's two major political parties asking for an outline of their goals, priorities and objectives for the year.

Answers are unedited, allowing the party leadership to tell their stories in their own words.

Here are the answers from the Anderson County Republican Party

It’s an election year, and the Anderson Observer sent questions to the leadership of the county's two major political parties asking for an outline of their goals, priorities and objectives for the year. Answers are unedited, allowing the party leadership to tell their stories in their own words.

Here are the answers from the Anderson County Democratic Party.

“We’ve just tried to do what’s right,” he said. “You know, you can’t please everybody, but at least if we can’t, we try to explain why.” His priorities, he hints, circle back to these roots—bolstering education, roads, and economic lifelines for upstate communities—while navigating Columbia’s evolving currents, where the House has grown more fractious than the Senate’s steady keel.