Beaufort Co. School Board results changed overnight, and it changed the outcome in a race

At 12:45 a.m. Wednesday the South Carolina Election Commission reported that a candidate for Beaufort County School Board had been defeated by two votes.

By daybreak it was a different story.

At 8:00 a.m. Wednesday the Commission reported that Chloe Gordon won over Terry Thomas with 2,162 votes to 2,156 votes in District 2.

The district hasn’t had representation since Chairman David Striebinger died a month ago.

“It was a nail-bitter, of course,” Gordon said, who spent the night watching the votes come in with friends. “I think voters voted for the candidate that they wanted to represent them. In the end, that candidate was me, and I’m very, very grateful for this vote.”

Gordon has been an educator for 27 years in Beaufort County. She was a teacher and an assistant principal at the elementary, middle and high school level.

“I have experience in education,” she said. “I know what teachers are faced with every day and our children are faced with. I want to get in there to get back to this community and help our children.”

Thomas, who believed he won last night, was surprised by the change in vote.

“I’m in shock,” he said “I don’t know how in the world I could be winning and then she picked up [six] votes.”

Election results are unofficial and set to be certified this week. Provisional votes won’t be added until Friday.

The Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County’s Board of Canvassers will decide whether there will be a recount. If there is one, it will be announced Friday at 10 a.m. at the Canvass hearing once all the provisional ballots are counted.

If a candidate wins by less than one percent of total votes, the Board should automatically order a recount, unless Thomas waives the recount in writing, according to South Carolina law.

Thomas said he wouldn’t waive the recount, and if he lost he wouldn’t run again.

“I don’t think I will run again because I don’t know how I would have lost,” Thomas said.

District 10

For District 10, Elizabeth Hey won against incumbent Mel Campbell and Peter Kristian. Hey received 38.11% of vote, Campbell received 26.35% and Kristian received 35.10%.

Hey was endorsed by Mom’s for Liberty, an American conservative nonprofit organization that advocates for parental rights in education. A list recently used to pull 97 titles from school libraries nearly matches the list a local Moms for Liberty member created and sent to the school district the morning the titles were taken off shelves.

“I am humbled today. A huge thank you to everyone who supported me through this process, this victory is yours. Thank you to those who voted, their votes stand with the interest of our children, teachers and parents,” Hey said in a statement to The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “I am honored by the trust, out pouring of votes and support shown; I vow to continue to advocate for our community and it’s educational needs.”

Campbell served on the board for two years and as an educator for over 40 years, including in Hilton Head High School. He said he won’t run again for the school board, but will continue to be active in the school community.

“That looks like after school help, helping students come up with possibilities of education, or curriculum, ” Campbell said.

Campbell said he believes he is leaving the board in a good place.

“We left the board in good shape functioning,” he said. “Accountability is there and I hope some of the initiatives we started will be continued.”

As a board member. Campbell spearheaded the Profile of the Beaufort County Graduate initiative, and said that was something he was especially proud of his involvement with. The initiative is being developed to teach students about topics like global citizenship and historical knowledge of the Lowcountry.

“In the past we haven’t put any emphasis on that,” he said.

Kristian didn’t say whether he would run again.

“I don’t want to speculate on what the future may hold,” he said. “We’ll take that one day at a time.”

Write-in and uncontested races

No results were in for the District 5 race between write-in candidates Cynthia Hayes and Gwenyth Saunders. Redistricting led to District 5 representative Richard Geier to run unopposed for District 4. No one filed to run for Geier’s current seat in District 5, resulting in a race between the two write-in candidates.

The District 5 winner will be announced at the Canvass Hearing Friday at 10 a.m.

Carlton Dallas in District 8 was the only newcomer who ran unopposed.

Incumbent William Smith is running unopposed in District 3 and incumbent Rachel Wisnefski is running unopposed in District 7.

Seats not up for reelection

Seats not up for reelection were Earl Campbell in District 1; Angela Middleton, District 7; Christiana Gwozdz, District 9, and Ingrid Boatright, District 10.

The ballot was significantly more crowded than the board’s 2020 elections, when six candidates ran for four open seats, two of which were uncontested.

New members will be sworn in at the board’s first January meeting. At that time, the board will also elect new officers to replace chairwoman Gwozdz, vice chairwoman Cathy Robine and secretary Angela Middleton. Gwozdz was elected as chair in a special meeting after Striebinger died unexpectedly.

The new school board in January will have a variety of issues to tackle, including the book review process, pandemic learning loss and school security.