Jay Koon claims victory in Lexington County sheriff’s race
Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon has claimed victory in the June 11 primary that will likely determine who serves as the area’s top cop for the next four years.
Koon gave a victory speech a little after 9 p.m. when less than half of precincts in the GOP race were reporting.
With all precincts reporting in Lexington County, he had nearly 63% of the vote. That’s a wide margin in the Republican primary over Billy Warren’s 31% and Alan Driggers’ 6%.
The primary is all but assured to determine who will serve as Lexington County’s top cop for the next four years, since no Democrat filed to run.
Koon, who has served as the county’s sheriff since he won a special election in 2015 and has subsequently won two full terms in office, faced two challengers, both of whom have centered their campaigns on questions about whether the department is doing all it can to address staffing challenges and ensure it’s keeping residents in the growing county safe heading into the future.
One of the challengers, Driggers, retired as a Lexington sheriff’s lieutenant after 24 years with the department. The other, Warren, is a former Lexington deputy and 32-year veteran of the state Highway Patrol.
In his speech, given during a celebration at Lexington restaurant Private Property, Koon said the work he has done during his nearly decade in office won the day.
“Lexington County spoke loud and clear,” the sheriff said. “These last nine years, we’ve done what we needed to do. I think it was about three things: experience, relationships and results. And I think certainly, these nine years we’ve been through, we showed we had the experience to do it. It was about relationships.”
He added that for him, that experience building relationships has been lifelong.
“You can’t show up at the Chamber of Commerce across the street last week and think you gonna make traction in this election,” Koon said. “This is no Johnny come lately.”
As the winner, Koon will, in all likelihood, serve for the next four years and be charged with protecting residents in unincorporated areas of the county of about 305,000 people for, as well as assisting the smaller police departments maintained by many of the county’s more rural municipalities. The sheriff is currently paid $145,621, according to the latest salary survey conducted by the S.C. Association of Counties.
One other Republican challenger, Garry Rozier, filed for the race but was kept off the ballot by the S.C. Republican Party due to a residency issue. Rozier, who served 40 years with the state Highway Patrol before later joining the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the county Sheriff’s Department, had been actively campaigning for sheriff since 2022.
Rozier challenged the decision to keep him off the ballot in court but was unsuccessful; his appeal remained pending heading into election day.
Though barred from the Republican primary, it appears Rozier is continuing to pursue the sheriff job. He couldn’t be reached for comment, but he posted to Facebook June 1 appealing to his supporters.
“I ask for your support in this Sheriff’s election,” he posted. “It is time for change. I pray to our God every day to be with us in this election.”
There was no option to write in a candidate in the June primary, but Rozier could push himself as a write-in candidate in November, unencumbered by the pledge signed by primary participants not to run against the primary winner. Were he to win in November, what would happen next is unclear.
“He’d still have to get his qualifications certified,” John Michael Catalano, public information officer for the S.C. Election Commission, said. “It’s just not clear who would be responsible for certifying his qualifications at that point because he’s not a party candidate. Petition candidates, the election authority certifies them, but it’s pretty silent on write-ins. If he won a write-in campaign, there would likely be more legal action, and a court would decide what happens.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2024 at 8:28 PM.
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