Longtime incumbent Herbkersman defeats Covert in SC primary. What’s next?
Bill Herbkersman, a 17-year veteran of the state House of Representatives, won the Republican nomination Tuesday and will run in November for his tenth term representing Beaufort and Jasper counties.
Late Tuesday night, Herbkersman secured the Republican nomination for House District 118, receiving 61.79% of the 5,575 votes cast and defeating his challenger, Beaufort County Council member Mike Covert, according to unofficial election data.
Herbkersman did not return two calls and a text for comment late Tuesday night.
He will face Democrat Mitch Siegel, a political activist and retired heath care project manager, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Covert said late Tuesday that the loss was “nothing to be down about.”
“I’m super excited with what we did,” he said. “We got people talking again about politics. I wish Rep. Herbkersman congratulations, and I will be supporting him in November. This loss doesn’t define me. This is just another day. You haven’t heard the last of Mike Covert by any stretch.”
Covert will continue to serve the rest of his County Council term, which expires in December. He said he will then decide his next political move.
The race between the two Bluffton Republicans was contentious, filled with controversy over debates, personal attacks and accusations of negative campaigning.
Herbkersman, who’s served in the statehouse since 2002, has strong ties to Old Town Bluffton. He received endorsements from several major political players, such as S.C. Sen. Tom Davis, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka.
His campaign touted his accomplishments in the House — ensuring that local colleges receive more state funding, improving area roads and demanding a “rainy day fund” for the House Ways and Means Committee — and the support he said he’s received from residents.
Covert, a vocal member of Beaufort County Council for the past three years, ran a campaign focusing on what he called a “three T approach”: taxes, term limits and teachers.
Voting during the coronavirus
Tuesday marked Beaufort County’s first election during the coronavirus pandemic as poll workers and voters wore masks, kept their distance and used cotton swabs to vote in the S.C. Republican primary.
Although Board of Elections Director Marie Smalls told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Tuesday afternoon there were no major issues to report, social distancing requirements slowed the check-in and processing of voters throughout the county.
“We’re running a little slow,” she said. “We are also a little bit short-handed. A lot of our poll workers are not working because of the pandemic.”
Covert vs. Herbkersman
The 118th District includes portions of Beaufort and Jasper counties. About 87% of registered voters in the district live in Beaufort County. The racial breakdown of the district is 83% white and 17% non-white.
The S.C. House of Representatives consists of 124 part-time legislators elected every two years. Current membership is made up of 79 Republicans and 44 Democrats, with one vacancy in District 115. S.C. representatives make $10,400 per year and $170 per diem, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among the issues the legislature will face in 2021: improvements to the S.C. public school system, how to pay for infrastructure and road repairs, taxes, state funding for the University of South Carolina Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcountry, and the state’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Throughout the campaign, Covert cited Herbkersman’s longevity in the state house as a sign that he’s been there too long. He supported term limits for politicians, saying that he’d signed a pledge to serve no more than four terms — eight years total — if elected.
Covert was criticized for jumping from race to race after just three years on Beaufort County Council. He initially said he would challenge U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), then shifted his focus to the 1st Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham’s narrow win, before dropping out at the last second.
He said he began thinking about running for Herbkersman’s seat about two months before the filing date in March.
Herbkersman drew criticism in 2018 after he introduced a bill that many saw as an attempt to help the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and other chambers to hide how they spend public money.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, called it “a terrible bill for openness in South Carolina.” The bill did not pass.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 12:12 AM.
