Rhodes re-elected mayor of Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH - Voters in Myrtle Beach re-elected John Rhodes to a second term as mayor on Tuesday.

Rhodes held off a challenge from former mayor Mark McBride, who he forced from office in 2005.

In the runoff election, with 100% of the precincts reporting, Rhodes finished with 2,649 votes to McBride's 2,157 votes.

The race was a bitter one with supporters splitting over issues such as the city's crackdown on motorcycle rallies and council's support for a 1% sales tax increase to fund a tourism marketing campaign for Myrtle Beach.

An emotional Rhodes told News13 when the votes were coming in at the Ted C. Collins Law Enforcement Center he wasn't sure what was going to happen and likened the race between him and McBride, to an Ali and Frazier fight.

Rhodes didn't start smiling until it looked like he had a clear lead and said he never counts his chickens before the eggs hatch, but with tears in his eyes he said he gave it his best shot. "I'm happy without a doubt, it's an honor." Rhodes said this was an election for the ages, but he's excited the majority of the voters decided to make him their leader for the next four years. “It's been a good race and Mark ran a good race and you know he put up a good fight."

McBride said although the election may be over for him, he still questions about why he did not win. "I'm disappointed, and it shows that it's a city of greed and what half a million dollars can buy." McBride said he has questions about how Rhodes' bid for re-election was funded. But he came over to Rhodes and congratulated him when it was clear that he had the majority of the votes. McBride leaned into the aisle and said, “Mr. Rhodes.” Rhodes stood up and said “Mark” and extended his hand to McBride who shook it and reached with his other hand and gripped Rhodes’ arm. McBride said sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But said he is grateful for the votes he did receive. "I sincerely appreciate their support, I mean I’ve had a group of people that have voted for me since 1991 and I appreciate every time they've come out and I want to thank all those people who’ve volunteered their time over the last several weeks."

Rhodes said he will take time to thank the people who voted for him, but also work to make sure the people who didn't vote for him will be part of the process of moving the city forward. "I hope for the people that didn't vote for me will believe in me when the next four years is up and we want to take this city forward and we're going to progress, we're going to do things with a positive attitude. We're going to have to get together and move forward, number one we've got to forget about negativity because as long as you have negativity then you're not going to accomplish anything. I believe in being positive about stuff, I believe in working together and let’s move forward so we can accomplish progress by working, sitting down and talking, seeing what we can do to make Myrtle Beach better and to bring more business in and to get more exposure for our community, that's the direction we're going in and hopefully we can heal the city from there.”

McBride said he hopes Rhodes uses some of his positive outlook to help heal a city that he said has been divided for almost two years over some very serious issues, including the one percent sales tax, an issue McBride said he will continue to raise questions about.