Covert wins Beaufort County Council seat; Glover also victorious

Two newcomers are joining the Beaufort County Council.

Republican Mike Covert will represent District 7, which encompasses much of the greater Bluffton area.

Democrat York Glover won 68.37 percent of the vote with all 11 precincts reporting unofficial results, defeating Republican competitor Wyman Haigler in their race to replace retiring Councilman Bill McBride as the representative for District 3, which is made up of a portions of Beaufort, Burton and St. Helena Island.

Covert, who faced no formal opposition Tuesday after he defeated incumbent Councilwoman Cynthia Bensch in the Republican primary earlier this year, said he has had plenty of time to begin acclimating himself to his new position.

“I’ve been going to as many council and committee meetings as I can,” he said. “I’m frothing at the mouth to jump in there.”

One of his priorities will be healing divisions among members of the council who represent different areas of the county, Covert said.

“One of the first things I want to get across is that we need to stop with the north of the Broad (River) and south of the Broad divide,” he said. “We all represent the county, so we need to work together.”

Glover, former chairman of the county’s school board, agreed, saying, “There is commonality between all of us, and we need to make sure no one is left behind and everyone is included.

“But I know it isn’t going to be easy when the county has different views from community to community,” he added.

Should the early results hold, Glover said one of his main areas of focus will be economic development.

“Bringing in good paying jobs — jobs that pay more than a just a few bucks an hour — is critical,” he said.

Incumbent County Councilmen Gerald Dawson, a Democrat, and Brian Flewelling, a Republican, faced no formal opposition in Tuesday’s general election and retained their seats on the board.

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Precinct results (contested races)

Data from SC Elections Commission and is unofficial until certified.

Map legend: Blue = Glover, red = Haigler, tan = tie

 

Precinct	York L Glover	Wyman Haigler	Write-In	Total
BEAUFORT 1	238	119	2	359
BEAUFORT 3	58	110	1	169
BURTON 2A	2	4	0	6
BURTON 3	0	0	0	0
Ladys Island 1A	124	133	0	257
Ladys Island 1B	291	410	1	702
Ladys Island 3B	26	55	0	81
Saint Helena 1A	423	94	3	520
Saint Helena 1B	463	123	0	586
Saint Helena 2A	295	129	1	425
Saint Helena 2B	420	109	1	530
Absentee	1134	309	8	1,451
Emergency	0	0	0	0
Failsafe	17	2	1	20
Provisional	0	0	0	0
Total:	3,491	1,597	18	5,106

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Covert wins Beaufort County Council seat; Glover also victorious."