When County Councilman Kevin Hardee stopped by the courthouse Tuesday night and heard the vote totals, he thought the election was over, so he congratulated Conway attorney George Hearn on winning and went out to eat.

Shortly afterward, Hardee got a phone call. In their four-way race, Hearn got 49 percent, and Hardee pulled in 31 percent - meaning the race will be decided in a runoff in two weeks.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Hardee said.

In the Republican race to fill the District 105 seat of retiring state Rep. Billy Witherspoon, Hearn led in early returns by more than 60 percent and other elected officials gathered around to congratulate him. By the end of counting, however, Hearn was about 35 votes shy of the 50 percent he needed, though he said he was thrilled to garner enough to compete in the runoff.

“I’ve been in a profession where you never count anything until the jury actually returns the verdict,” Hearn said.

The Conway-based seat includes Loris, Carolina Forest and the rural areas in between. No Democrat has contested the race, so whoever wins in the June 24 runoff will claim the seat in November unless a write-in or petition candidate emerges.

Hearn said the two-man campaign will likely be very similar to the four-way race.

“Kevin ran a very honorable campaign, and I think I did too,” Hearn said. “We’ll continue to address the issues with the voters.”

Hardee said he was surprised Hearn outpaced the three contestants by so much, but he is looking forward to the runoff.

“It’ll be a smaller turnout, so it’s whoever can get their supporters back out,” Hardee said.

“It was an issue-oriented campaign, and evidently George got his point across better than I did.”

Conway City Councilman Randy Alford, who garnered 17 percent of the vote, could not be reached late Tuesday.

Coastal Carolina University student Mark Bennett, who earned 3 percent, said he plans to campaign for Hearn, but was grateful for the chance to run.

“It really is something to go to the polling booth and put your finger down on your own name,” Bennett said.

S.C. House of Representatives District 105
(100 percent of precincts reporting)

Randy L. Alford, 784
Mark J. Bennett, 158
Kevin Hardee, 1,422
George M. Hearn , 2,295

What’s next | No candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the total vote, so Hearn will face Hardee in a runoff June 24.
No Democrat filed to run, so the winner will have a clear path to the seat.

The Sun News
By Robert Morris
June 11, 2008