By Paul Gable
Filing for the special election for SC House District 106 will open Friday May 29, 2015 at noon.
The special election will fill the unexpired term of Rep. Nelson Hardwick who resigned from office earlier this month.
While nothing becomes official until filing papers and fees are submitted, two candidates have already announced their intentions to seek the office.
Russell Fry, an Horry County attorney and Republican Party executive committeeman, and Tyler Servant, Horry County Council District 5 member, have announced they will be running for the open SC House District 106 seat.
We are hearing Chuck Ottwell, recently appointed to the Coast RTA board, and former candidate for Horry County Council District 5 is planning to run.
Local writer Mande Wilkes’ name has been aired as a possible candidate. She challenged Hardwick in the 2010 Republican Primary for the nomination and scored an impressive 45% of the vote against a, then, three term incumbent.
However, Wilkes and husband Alex Robinson have had a son since that race, which may be a deterring factor to running for office at this time.
We are hearing speculation that Reese Boyd III, Horry County attorney and former Republican Party official, who lost to Servant in a runoff for the Horry County Council District 5 Republican nomination, may also be considering a run.
Boyd is the most experienced and probably best qualified of the names mentioned. He served as a legal counsel to Gov. Carroll Campbell and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of conservative organizations Club for Growth in SC and the Palmetto Family Council. In addition, Boyd serves on the Board of Trustees for the SC Public Charter District.
Through these three boards, Boyd hits the conservative trifecta of smaller government, family values and quality education.
Boyd recently served as defense counsel for Bren Gibson in a lawsuit freshman Rep. Greg Duckworth (SC House District 104) brought against Gibson and Charles Collins for libel and defamation of character.
Demonstrating an in-depth understanding of the First Amendment, Boyd successfully got the lawsuit thrown out of court at the summary judgement phase.
Candidate filing for the special election for SC House District 106 opens at noon May 29, 2015 and closes at noon June 9, 2015. Primary elections for the seat will be held July 28th with primary runoffs, if necessary, August 11th. The special general election will be September 15, 2015.
For a different take on this special election and its candidates, read the Fits News piece at: http://www.fitsnews.com/2015/05/22/unimpressive-candidates-announce-for-vacated-sc-house-seat/
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