Fourth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Will Rogers will be the new chief prosecutor of the circuit after defeating his opponent, Darlington attorney Jay Ervin, in the Democratic primary Tuesday.
Rogers had 11,143 votes to Ervin’s 7,750. It was enough for Rogers to claim victory in the circuit, which is made up of Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon and Marlboro counties.
“I’m very proud. I’m very proud of my supporters. They did a wonderful job,” Rogers said. “This was not a victory for Will Rogers. This was a victory for the 4th Circuit.”
Rogers said he expected to win, but not by such a large margin.
“I felt like it would have been a closer race,” he said.
PRIMARY RESULTS
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Ervin ran unsuccessfully for the position against current 4th Circuit Solicitor Jay Hodge in 2000.
Ervin is from Chesterfield County, but lives in Darlington, where he practices law at Ervin Law Office.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m still glad I got in the race, bottom line,” he said. “I wanted to give the voters an option. Obviously, they approved Will Rogers as solicitor, so we’ll see how he does. I wish him well.”
Rogers has been an assistant solicitor for about 12 years and primarily prosecutes cases in Darlington County. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law and prosecuted cases for about a year in the 4th Circuit before moving to Myrtle Beach, where he practiced law for three years.
He returned to Bennettsville 13 years ago and opened his own law firm, Rogers and Munnerlyn.
Rogers, who received Hodge’s endorsement, said he plans on continuing many of the programs implemented by Hodge, such as the drug court and courses for domestic violence offenders.
“Some of the programs that the 4th Circuit has are not in all four counties and I want to expand the programs,” Rogers said.
Rogers said he also plans to start new programs.
“We have a problem in our area with truancy and drop-outs ... that is an area I want to try to focus on,” he said. “The more we can do to promote young people to continue education through high school and college, the better off we’ll be.”
Rogers was also endorsed by 4th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Kernard Redmond.
Ervin said the tremendous support of Hodge and other solicitor’s office staff members is what helped Rogers win the race.
“That’s the reality of it. He definitely was supported by the entire office,” Ervin said.
Hodge announced in March that he wouldn’t run for solicitor after holding the position for 12 years.
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