Here’s the winner in the race for the Port Royal and Beaufort seat on the County Council
Michael Andersen cruised to victory over Thomas Grygowski in the District 4 Republican primary for Beaufort County Council Tuesday evening.
Anderson had 975 votes, or 58.1% to Gyrgowski’s 702 votes, or 41.8%, according to the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections. That was based on 12 of 12 precincts reporting.
Andersen will replace Council Chairwoman Alice Howard in District 4, which includes most of Port Royal, the Shell Point area and parts of Beaufort. Howard is stepping down after holding the seat since 2015.
Andersen is an accountant who lives in Beaufort’s Mossy Oaks neighborhood and serves on the city of Beaufort’s Trees Advisory Committee. Grygowski is a retired Marine Corps officer and University of South Carolina Beaufort student who lives in Spanish Point.
“We did it. We got this,” Andersen said at his election night party at Rancho Grande on Ribaut Road in Beaufort, when he shook hands and hugged cheering campaign supporters.
Andersen had just returned to the election night headquarters with a smile on his face after checking vote totals at all of the precincts.
Andersen told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet that he was relieved to have won because of special interests he said were trying dictate council decisions.
The comment was in reference to a group calling itself Alliance for Lowcountry Balance, a Super PAC that registered with the Federal Election Commission and bankrolled mailers and social media ads supporting five council candidates including Grygowski, Andersen’s opponent. Gyrgowski said he didn’t know anything about the PAC.
“From the very beginning, it was evident this race was going to come down to this community and the future we are going to have,” Andersen said.
District 4 sits in the heart of the county and includes most of the town of Port Royal, the Shell Point area and the Mossy Oaks area of Beaufort.
The general election is Nov. 3 but it will be a formality for Andersen because no Democrat filed for the seat.
During the campaign, Andersen said that Beaufort County was at a critical turning point when it comes to growth, with too many residents feeling suffocated by development.
The area’s natural beauty, neighborhoods, history and quality of life are worth fighting for, he said.
Grygowski also talked about the pace of growth in the county, rising costs for residents and the strain on infrastructure during his campaign.
Both candidates said something has to be done about the infrastructure problem.
“I’m proud of the campaign we ran, proud of the people we met and grateful for the opportunity to be part of the process,” Grygowski said. “I’m wishing Michael Andersen the best.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 10:05 PM.
