Challengers File for 3 County Council Seats, 3 S.C. House Seats in Anderson County on First Day
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
On Monday morning, when the filing window for South Carolina’s June 9 primaries slid open at noon, the first ripples did not come from Columbia but from county courthouses and law offices, where people with day jobs and name badges began the formal work of trying to unseat their neighbors. In Anderson County, three stepped forward for county council, turning what had been comfortably occupied chairs into contested ones.
Council seats 1, 5 and 7, now have opposition. In District 1, Councilman Chris Sullivan, elected in 2024, drew a challenger in Kelly Koonce. In District 5, the county council chairman, Tommy Dunn—on the board since 2008 and something of a fixed feature in the room—will face Josh Mann. District 7, long represented by Cindy Wilson, first elected in 2000, will share the ballot with Collin Alexander, who has chosen the year of her quarter‑century mark in office to ask voters whether they’re ready for a change.
No candidate has yet to file for the Dist. 4 seat which will be vacated by Council Vice Chairman Brett Sanders at the end of the year.
Beyond the county line, the first day of filing also brought movement in the Anderson Legislative Delegation. In Statehouse District 6, Rep. April Cromer will seek a third term and, once again, contend with Anderson attorney Kyle White, who is back for a rematch that suggests unfinished business between the two—and between Cromer and a slice of the district’s electorate.
In District 8, Rep. Don Chapman, elected in 2024, is being challenged not by one opponent but by two: Sherry Hodges and Patrick Orr, who will first have to sort out the matter of which of them gets to be the alternative. In District 11, Rep. Craig Gagnon, who has held the seat since 2012, faces Jesse Turner, a reminder that even a dozen years in Columbia does not guarantee a thirteenth.
The paperwork is, for now, the main event: lines on forms, signatures, filing fees. The real campaign—the knock on the door at dinner, the flyer on the windshield at the grocery store—comes later. Between now and March 30, more names will likely appear on the state’s candidate list, but the first‑day filers have already changed the shape of the June ballot, turning a routine primary calendar into a running story. Watch this space, as the phrase goes, for what happens once the hats that went into the ring on Monday land on the voters’ doorstep.
South Carolina voters have until early May to register to cast a ballot in the statewide primaries. The deadline to register in person is May 8, the deadline to register online, fax or email is May 10 and registration by mail must be postmarked by May 11. Early voting in person for the June 9 primaries starts May 26 and ends June 5. More information can be found here.
