Slew of new faces to appear on Richland Council

Everything old could be new again on Richland County Council, as two former council members have a chance to return to their seats in January. A current council member, meanwhile, appears to have lost her seat.

Former councilwoman Gwen Kennedy won the Democratic nomination for the District 7 seat she last held in 2012, while 28-year council veteran Bernice Scott appeared headed for a runoff election June 28 for the District 10 seat representing the majority of Lower Richland.

Freshman Councilwoman Julie-Ann Dixon won’t continue to represent District 9 after being comfortably defeated by Calvin “Chip” Jackson, a Richland 1 school board member.

Five Richland County Council seats were up for election in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries. More than a third of council members will be fresh faces come January.

After an eight-year hiatus during which her son-in-law, Kelvin Washington, represented District 10, a runoff stands between Scott and the seat she formerly held for 28 years. She will face attorney Dalhi Myers in a repeat of a separate special runoff election that also took place Tuesday. Myers bested Scott in Tuesday’s general primary among a field of five candidates, but no candidate received more than half the votes, forcing a runoff.

In a unique voting situation, District 10 voters cast separate ballots on the same day for the general primary and the special runoff between Scott and Myers. The special election was forced after Gov. Nikki Haley removed Washington from office for failing to file state income tax returns for three years.

The results of the District 10 special runoff were still being tallied as of press time Tuesday night.

Kennedy has a chance to succeed District 7 Councilman Torrey Rush, the council’s current chairman who opted not to seek re-election in favor of challenging state Sen. John Scott. Kennedy previously sat on council from 1990-97 and from 2009-12. After comfortably defeating former Blythewood Mayor Keith Bailey in the Democratic primary, she’ll face Republican Michael Greene on the November ballot.

Yvonne McBride won the District 3 seat currently held by her nephew, Damon Jeter, who did not run for re-election. The state Department of Education retiree bested political consultant Michael D’Amelio and former law enforcement officer Bruce Trezevant.

Of the contested Democratic primaries, the only current council member to survive the voting was District 8 representative Jim Manning, who easily beat challenger Wayne Gilbert. He’ll face Republican Todd Phillips on the November ballot.

This story was originally published June 14, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Slew of new faces to appear on Richland Council."