Hilton Head Town Council: Brison and Becker emerge as winners

The Hilton Head Island Town Council will look much different the next time it meets, as votes are counted to determine representatives to Wards 2, 4 and 5 alongside a new mayor Tuesday evening.

With 100% of the vote released at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday morning in Wards 2 and 4, Patsy Brison and incumbent Tamara Becker were the winners.

Here are the early tallies as reported by scvotes.gov:

Ward 2

Patsy Brison: 1,536 votes, or 54.88%

Stephen Arnold: 1,253 votes, or 44.77%

Unlike her opponent, Brison has experience on the campaign trail. In 2018, Brison contended with outgoing Ward 5 councilman Tom Lennox for a spot on town council, but was defeated. In that race, Brison earned 37% of the vote.

A political newcomer, the 38-year-old Arnold is the youngest candidate running in this year’s local races. Arnold currently works as general manager of Palmetto Dunes General Store, and has served on the town’s Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee since 2019.

Ward 4

Tamara Becker 1,653 votes, or 54.41%

Kim Likins: 1,381 votes, or 45.46%

Becker is the lone incumbent in Hilton Head’s local races this year. She first took office in 2018, when she ran uncontested for the Ward 4 seat.

Likins is unique among challengers in this year’s elections, as she previously held the Ward 4 seat from 2010-18. She gave up her spot as councilwoman to launch an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2018, where she was defeated by outgoing mayor John McCann in a runoff.

Becker and Likins’ race has been the most hotly contested of the cycle, and the most expensive of the local contests, with both candidates combined raising over $40,000 as of their last finance reports.

Ward 5

The Ward 5 race became an uncontested win for Steve Alfred after his previous opponent, Chuck Dowd, withdrew from the election citing a medical issue in late October.

Alfred took in more than 75% of the vote. He will return to the dais to extend his years of local government experience after serving eight years as mayor of Shaker Heights, Ohio, and eight more as a councilman.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 9:16 PM.

Blake Douglas

The Island Packet

Blake is the Hilton Head Island reporter for the Island Packet. A Tulsa, Oklahoma native, Blake has written for his hometown Tulsa World, as well as the Charlotte Observer. He graduated in May 2022 from the University of Oklahoma with a journalism degree.