An upset in Beaufort-Colleton House race. Challenger takes Democratic primary
Shannon DeLoach has upset long-time incumbent Michael Rivers Sr. in the Democratic primary for House District 121, which stretches from the Sea Islands to Walterboro.
With 100% of the vote counted, DeLoach had 2,159 votes, 53.7% of the vote, compared to incumbent Rivers’ 1,861 votes, or 46.3%, according to preliminary vote totals from the Secretary of State’s Office.
“We put in the work,” DeLoach told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
During the campaign, DeLoach said the district was ready for a fresh voice and that residents were in an “affordability crisis.” He supported rent caps, he said, because of rising housing costs across the Lowcountry. “We’re nomads within our own district,” DeLoach said.
Access to quality health care, backing public teachers and making sure law enforcement is equipped to do their job were some of his other key issues, he said.
Rivers is a 67-year-old minister and former Beaufort County School Board member from St. Helena Island. He first won House District 121 in November 2016 and took office in 2017. He’s won four times since. He touted his experience and access to key committees and leaders during the campaign.
DeLoach, 41, Beaufort, is a pastor at Yemassee’s Mt. Sinai Baptist Church who owns Serenity Mortuary in Summerville and Beaufort.
Rivers won Beaufort County 1,398 to 1,042, but DeLoach outpaced Rivers 1,112 to 462 in Colleton County.
In the Nov. 3 general election, DeLoach will face Republican Shelley Gay Yuhas of St. Helena Island, who was unopposed in the Republican primary. Yuhas lost to Rivers in the 2024 general election.
The sprawling rural district of 42,000 residents in Beaufort and Colleton counties includes Fripp Island and much of St. Helena and extends inland reaching north of Beaufort to Burton, Gray’s Hill, Green Pond, Ritter and Walterboro.
As the primary approached, the campaign got heated.
Rivers said he believed he was being challenged within his own party because he would not support changes in the cultural protection overlay district (CPO) in St. Helena that has prevented the construction of a proposed golf course-centered development called Pine Island.
“This whole thing is about me not being a willing participant to endorse or support the Pine Island issue,” he said.
DeLoach called the allegation that he is running due to Pine island “a lie.” He said he didn’t even know what a CPO was until he got into the race. That said, he supports the CPO, which he notes is enforced by the Beaufort County Council and not state lawmakers.
On the day before the election, a coalition of Beaufort County political and religious leaders threw their support behind Rivers including Beaufort City Councilman Mitch Mitchell, former Beaufort mayor Stephen Murray, former Beaufort County Councilman and magistrate Joseph and the Rev. Donald Goodwine of St. Paul Baptist Church.
DeLoach said he ran a clean campaign and the issues he talked about resonated with voters.
“I’m grateful more than anything,” DeLoach said.
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 10:48 PM.
