Burgess runs away with North Charleston mayor's race

[UPDATED 11/8/2023] Former North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess swept a crowded 10-way field in the city’s mayoral election Tuesday night, securing 59% of votes. He will become the first new mayor of the city in nearly 30 years. He also will become the city’s first Black mayor.

North Charleston’s high-profile election garnered a lot of attention after longtime Mayor Keith Summey announced he would not run for reelection. North Charleston’s race is also different from most because there is no runoff election if the leading candidate doesn’t get more than half of the votes. Instead, whoever secures the most votes wins.

But this detail didn’t appear to matter as Burgess nabbed just over 6,100 votes more than his closest competitor of the 14,000+ votes cast. Former city councilman Todd Olds came in a distant second with 2,235 votes, while current Charleston County Council member Teddie Pryor Sr. got 1,178 votes.

Burgess, center, surrounded by family and friends on election night. Photo provided.

Packed to the gills

North Charleston also saw several competitive city council races this year, with every seat up for grabs. More than 30 candidates ran for 10 seats. Unofficial results show:

District 1: Unopposed incumbent Michael Brown cruised to victory with 982 votes.
District 2: Incumbent Rhonda Jameson Jerome, who also ran for mayor, was reelected to council with 534 votes to newcomer Kenneth Ray’s 453.
District 3: In a crowded field, newcomer Sandino Moses won with 408 votes, with Maurice Ray coming in just behind him with 237.
District 4: Charmaine Palmer-Roberts got just six votes more than newcomer Richard Hayes, who garnered 402 votes, making this one of the closest races in the area.
District 5: Incumbent Jerome Heyward took the seat with a whopping 1,170 votes, nearly doubling runner-up Belinda Thomas Swindler’s 642 votes.
District 6: Newcomer Nefertiti Brown led with 343 votes over Brandon Trollinger’s 188.
District 7: Michael Brown got 296 votes to Dan Gregory’s 269.
District 8: Brandon Hudson had 669 votes to narrowly beat Greg Perry, who got 654 votes, in a five-way race.
District 9: Incumbent Kenny Skipper ran unopposed and received 1,253 votes.
District 10: Incumbent Michael A. Brown won the seat with 731 votes, beating challenger Aaron Hicks, who received 567 votes, in a four-way race.

Other area races

The mayoral election in Charleston will head to a run-off between former Republican S.C. Rep. William Cogswell and incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg, with each securing about a third of the vote, with the remaining third split among other candidates.

S.C. Rep. Deon Tedder, D-North Charleston, cruised to victory in a special state Senate race by garnering 82% of votes to newcomer GOP candidate Rosa Kay.

On James Island, Brook Lyon got eight more votes than needed to become the town’s new mayor without a runoff. She got the support of 50.31% of voters in a three-way race by garnering 1,311 votes. Josh Stokes came in second with 971 votes, or 37% and Gresham Meggett III received 12% of the votes..

Of the seven candidates for the town’s council, the four top vote-getters — and winners — were Cynthia Mignano, Dan Boles, Lewis Dodson and Darren Troy Mullinax.

Results of local elections are expected to be certified Thursday.