Byrd, Gainey in runoff for Darlington County sheriff

By: Jamie Rogers | SCNow
Published: June 11, 2008

After months of campaigning, Darlington County Police Capt. Wayne Byrd and Darlington County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tom Gainey will face each other in a runoff election for the office of Darlington County Sheriff.

Byrd had a total of 3,477 votes, while Gainey trailed with 2,706 votes in Tuesday’s primary election. Both men are Democrats.

The runoff will be June 24.

“Where we started out, nobody gave us a shot at winning, and we trusted in the Lord and the people of Darlington County,” Byrd said.

PRIMARY RESULTS

For complete results from races in the Grand Strand, Pee Dee and more, click here.

Byrd said he expected it to be a close race.

“With three people in it, yeah, we thought it would be really tight,” he said.

Byrd, 42, was the first candidate to announce he would run for sheriff. He began his law enforcement career in his hometown of Society Hill in 1987 and has been with the Darlington Police Department since 1989.

Gainey, 55, who has been chief deputy since 1996, announced he would run for the position in January.

“I feel like we did well. We ran a clean race. We put out a good message,” he said.

Woodle said he felt low voter turnout affected his results.

“... It surprised me we didn’t have a better turnout than we did,” he said.

Byrd said he hopes in the coming weeks, he can get Woodle’s endorsement.

Woodle said he will make a endorsement decision later.

“We are just going to pick up where we left off today,” Byrd said. “We got to keep the momentum going.”

Gainey couldn’t be reached for comment by press time Tuesday.

Gainey, who was endorsed by incumbent Darlington County Sheriff Glenn Campbell, said he made the decision to run after Campbell announced he wouldn’t seek re-election after holding the position for 24 years.

Gainey began his law enforcement career in 1975 at the Florence Police Department, where he worked for two years. He also worked at the Hartsville Police Department for six years.