Multiple candidates make another run at Midlands school board in special election
Who will take an open seat on a Midlands school board?
Three candidates filed to run for a board seat in Lexington 1, ahead of a special election on June 23.
A special election was called after former school board Vice Chair Beth Shealy’s position. The seat opened up when Shealy resigned March 29 following her husband’s arrest on charges of possessing child sex abuse material.
Two candidates are making another bid to join the school board after running unsuccessfully in 2024. Dana Homesley and Shelton Yonce were both candidates the last time voters in the central Lexington County school district chose new board members, but both came just a few votes short of qualifying for an at-large seat in a crowded, nine-candidate field.
Now both Homesley, a claims adjuster with the S.C. Association of Counties, and Yonce, a commercial real estate agent, are trying again in the special election, along with Crystal Baker, a parent at White Knoll High School.
Prior to the last election, Homesley filed a federal lawsuit against the district and former school board chair Anne Marie Green after she was prevented from speaking at a 2021 school board meeting. Federal court record show a settlement was reached in that case just a couple of weeks before the filing deadline.
The new seat will be elected district-wide in Lexington 1, which covers the town of Lexington as well as Gilbert, Pelion, Red Bank and White Knoll. Voters who wish to vote in the special election must be registered by May 24.
The school board election comes just two weeks after the statewide primaries to pick the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor, U.S. Senate and other offices on June 9. If no candidate wins a majority in any of those races, a runoff election will be held on the same date as the special school board election.
Board member Nick Pizzuti was elected to replace Shealy as vice chair at the Lexington 1 school board’s April 21 meeting.
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