AT A GLANCE: Horry, Georgetown primary results

By: Bob Juback | SCNow
Published: June 11, 2008

The entire Horry County legislative contingent in Columbia is running for re-election, except for one.

Veteran state Rep. Billy Witherspoon decided to not seek another term, and we’re still at least two weeks away from getting a good idea who will succeed him.

Four of his fellow Republicans ran in Tuesday’s District 105 GOP primary. George Hearn got the most votes, but came up just short of garnering a majority. Hearn got 49.3 percent of the vote. He’ll meet current county councilman Kevin Hardee (who got 30.5 percent) in a runoff on June 24.

Out of more than 4,600 cast, Hearn came up 35 votes shy of getting the total he needed to avoid the runoff.

PRIMARY RESULTS

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

In some other high-profile races from Tuesday, veteran state Sen. Luke Rankin defeated Horry County Council chairwoman Liz Gilland in the Senate District 33 GOP primary. The fact that Rankin won is not a surprise. The fact that he won by 40 percentage points was.

Incumbent state Rep. Thad Viers of Socastee also took a convincing Republican primary win in district 68, beating Helen Smith by 22 points.

In Horry County Council Republican primaries, Gary Loftus defeated incumbent Councilman Mike Ryan, Jody Prince won the battle for the seat vacated by Kevin Hardee and incumbent Paul Prince beat Mark Causey by only five points in District 9.

In the District 9 Democratic primary, Ulysses DeWitt ripped Brian Johnson by nearly a three-to-one margin.

In Georgetown County, veteran Sheriff Lane Cribb had little trouble in dispatching Jay High in the Republican primary. Cribb got more than 80 percent of the vote.