A race between two Emilys: A pair of political newcomers vie for Bluffton council seat.
Bluffton residents have undoubtedly seen the countless signs spread across the town reading “vote for Emily.” Those who give the signs more than a glance notice that there are two variations, each supporting a different candidate running for the town council.
Bluffton will soon have an open town council seat and only one thing is for sure, it will be occupied by someone named Emily.
The two candidates a running to replace Mayor-Elect Larry Toomer after he moves his things into the Mayor’s Office are Emily Vaux Burden and Emily Mayer, two working moms looking to serve their town.
Emily Vaux Burden
“I’m not a politician,” said Burden. “I don’t ever want to be. I’m just doing this because I truly love my hometown and want to help and contribute however I can.”
Burden graduated from Hilton Head High School in 2000, back when there was not a public high school in Bluffton. She graduated from the College of Charleston in 2004. Besides her time in college and six years post-college in Colorado, Burden has lived in Bluffton her entire life.
She said she would like to help continue the work of the current council by focusing on smart development, workforce and affordable housing and protecting the May River. Burden also mentioned traffic as a large concern. “With us growing so much recently, it obviously has become a problem,” she said.
Burden said she spends a lot of time across the entirety of Bluffton and says she’d be a good bridge between the residents who have lived her their whole life and the newer families in Bluffton.
“Between running kids around in different activities, I feel that I’m all over our entire 54 square miles and not just in Old Town. And so I feel that I’m in and out of these different communities - on a very regular basis,” she said.
All four of her children attend Hilton Head Christian Academy. If Blufftonian’s don’t see her at Gigi’s she’s likely to be at the ball fields for practice and games or walking around town, she said.
Emily Mayer
Mayer, a married mother of two, moved to Bluffton in 2020 from New Jersey. If elected, she hopes to represent young families and the newer side of Bluffton.
“It’s really important that as Bluffton continues to expand outside of just what people consider to be Bluffton - in that old town area - there are people who are on town council who represent the voices that live in the newer parts of town,” Mayer said. “The folks who have moved here in the last handful of years, the younger families who have chosen to move and raise their families out here.”
That’s something that I represent,” she added. “I am a young parent who owns a house on on the newer side of town. So what we experience out here looks a little bit different. I want to be able to bridge that gap on town council.”
Mayer grew up in Maryland, attended college at The College of New Jersey, earning her Bachelor’s of Science of Psychology and Master’s of Arts in Education/Teaching of individuals with specific learning disabilities.
Mayer currently works as a senior manager for the Ford and Ford Group, a lobbying organization. Previously she worked as a public school teacher for six years, in and outside of Beaufort County, teaching special education.
“When I was 10 years old, and I told everybody and anybody that would listen to me that I was going to be a special education teacher,” she said.
Mayer thinks there will be similarities between her former career and serving on the council.
“As somebody who was a teacher,” she began. “I always tried to make the best out of the resources that are available and I don’t think that serving on town council would be too different in that regard. You know, there’s only so much that a town council can do. But, there are absolutely creative solutions that are available and on the table that I don’t think have been discussed yet - I look forward to really digging into
Mayer, if elected, said she would implore the council to carefully watch expiration dates on the many development plans approved years ago so that the town can be more “proactive and intentional,” with growth.
Blufftonians are likely to see her with her kids at one of the city’s parks or out and around Buckwalter Place.
When to vote?
The town will hold the special election on Feb. 13. The winner of the special election finish out Toomer’s term. The winner will have the seat until 2026 and, if interested, would need to be elected again in 2025 to keep it.
Mayor-Elect Toomer will be sworn in as Mayor during the Jan. 9 Bluffton Town Council meeting.
This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 11:40 AM.
