Update: More Candidates Announce Ahead of March Filing
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
With the beginning of filing for office just over a month away, more candidates have tossed their hats into the ring for this year’s general elections.
Based on public announcements, so far there are four contested, including United State House District 3, South Carolina House Districts 6, 8 and 9, and Anderson City Council Seat 6 (The municipal election is April 2).
The statewide primary is scheduled for June 11. In recent years, the primary determined the election in most state and national offices, where the Republican party has dominated.
The most recent candidate to announce is Sherry Hodges, who plans to oppose freshman S.C. House Rep. Don Chapman, R-Anderson, Dist. 8. Hodges describes herself as a conservative and parents-rights activist.
In House District 6, Anderson Attorney Kyle White will challenge freshman Rep. April Cromer, R-Anderson, Dist. 6.
House District 9, a seat which is open due to the retirement of Rep. Ann Thayer, has two candidates who have announced for the office. Former West Pelzer Mayor Blake Sanders, a landscape architect and city planner who has worked closely with the Anderson County Delegation for years, and Attorney James Galyean, founder of the Belton Preparatory Academy, the Summit Classical School in Clinton the online S.C. Preparatory Academy. It is Sanders first run for statewide office. Galyean previously ran for the U.S. House District 3 seat in 2010, and for the S.C. Sen. Dist. 3 seat currently held by Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson.
In the U.S. House Dist. 3 seat, two candidates have announced so far, and neither is from Anderson County, which has not had a representative in the seat since Honea Path’s John Taylor who held the seat from 1933-1939.
Sherri Biggs, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, a board-certified family nurse practitioner, and board certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, who is from Salem in northern Oconee County. Also seeking the seat is freshman S.C. Rep. Stewart Jones , R-Laurens, Dist. 14., owner and founder of Greenwood I.T., LLC, and a member of the Freedom Caucus.
So far, the rest of the Anderson County legislation is running unopposed, but with the filing not opening until March 16, that could change.
No current Anderson County Council member has announced reelection plans, but all except John Wright, Jr., who will not run again, are expected to run. Anderson Businessman Chris Sullivan has announced his candidacy for Wright’s Dist. 1 seat.
In the April 2 City of Anderson Elections, incumbents Luis Martinez II, Seat 2, Tony Stewart, Seat 4, and John Roberts, At-Large Seat 8, are running for re-election. Two candidates are seeking the Seat 6 seat vacated by longtime City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Rick Laughridge, who is retiring from city council after 16 years at the end of his term.
Anderson businessman Bryce Nivens, and Anderson attorney Greg Steele filed for the seat, which represents an area that stretches from West of Linley Park, through the Pope Drive community, across to Whitehall Avenue.