Meet the 2024
Democratic
Candidates

The election is over.

We will preserve this page for a while until the 2026 election cycle gets underway (in about 15 minutes, it seems. See our section on Voting in York County for voting locations. This page will give you a brief introduction to the Democratic candidates for various offices affecting York County voters, with links to their various sites

See your sample ballot here.

President/Vice President

Kamala Harris picture

for President:
VP Kamala Harris

for Vice President:
Gov. Tim Walz

President Biden won the South Carolina First in the Nation Primary on February 3, and was ready to become the Democratic Nominee for President in the general election on November 5, with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate for Vice President.

President Joe Biden

On July 21, Biden announced that he was stepping down as a candidate, and endorsed Harris as his preference to become the Democratic nominee for President. Harris was officially nominated at the Democratic National Convention in August. She has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her Vise Presidental running mate.

In addition to the Republican candidates, there are multiple 3rd party candidates on the SC ballot for President/Vice President.

Statewide

Governor/Lt. Governor

Officces that are not up for election in 2024 are crossed out

The Governor and Lt. Governor offices – and all other SC ‘Executive’ offices – are not up for election in 2024. These offices will be up for election in 2026.

US Senate

US Senators serve six-year terms. 2024 is an ‘off-year’ for Senate in South Carolina. Neither Senate office is up for election in 2024. Republican Lindsey Graham will be up for re-election in 2026. Republican Tim Scott will be up for re-election in 2028.

Constitutional Amendment

There is one Constitutional Amendment question on the statewide ballot

This ballot measure passed with 86% voting ‘yes’:

Must Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of this State, relating to voter qualifications, be amended so as to provide that only a citizen of the United States and of this State of the age of eighteen and upwards who is properly registered is entitled to vote as provided by law?

The SC Legislature voted earlier this year to put the question on the ballot. It asks if the state constitution’s guaranteed right to vote should change from every to only a citizen who’s at least 18 and properly registered.

Regional Offices

The offices in this section serve only parts of York County. See the York County Political Maps section of this website to see the various political subdivisions.

The Democratic candidates below are all headed directly to the General Election in November, because no one filed to run against them. They did not appear in the June 11 Primary.

US House - 5th District

Note: In 2024, York County
is located entirely within
the 5th Congressional District

Evangeline Hundley is the Democratic candidate for US House in the SC 5th District. She ran for this office in the 2022 cycle. You can view her launch party filmed by YCDPTV here.

Evangeline Hundley

Republican Ralph Norman is the incumbent, and he has declared for 2024.

Elizabeth Tedder  has declared as an Independent candidate for 2024.

South Carolina State Senate

York County includes parts of SC Senate Districts 14, 16 and 17, and all of Senate District 15. State Senators serve four-year terms, with elections in Presidential years, so all State Senate seats are up for election in 2024.

SC Senate District 17
Mike Fanning

incumbent

Sen. Mike Fanning will face off against Everett Stubbs who defeated his two primary opponents Tibi Czentye and Tripp McCoy.

No Democrats have filed to run in Districts 14, 15 and 16. District 15 has an Alliance Party candidate (the Alliance party considers itself to be a ‘centerist’ party - make of that what you will). District 16 has a Worker’s Party candidate (they claim to represent the ‘working class’, labor unions, etc., ie. the usual Democratic Party constituency). That Worker’s Party Candidate, Kiral Mace, also filed for SC House in District 26. Mace withdrew from the D26 race on June 19, but remains in the race for Senate D17.

South Carolina
State House of
Representatives

York County includes all or part of SC House Districts 26, 29, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 66.

SC House District 26
Matt Vilardebo (Fort Mill)

This is Matt’s second run at the D26 House seat. This time around, incumbent Republican Raye Felder isn’t running, so it’s an open seat, and will be more competitive.

Matt will face Republican David Martin in the November race, after Martin defeated Elizabeth Enns in the June primary.

A candidate from the SC Workers Party had filed for both the SC House 26 seat and the SC 16 Senate Seat. Kiral Mace dropped out of the race for D26 on June 19th, and has endorsed Matt.

SC House District 46
John Zabel (Rock Hill)

This is John’s first run at a political office. He had no Demorcatic opponent, so he’s heading straight to the November election, where he’ll face off against incumbent Republican Heath Sessions.

SC House District 49
Rep. John King (Rock Hill)

John has represented SC House District 49 since 2009. He is running unopposed for the seat in 2024, so will face only write-ins in the November general election.

SC House District 66
April Patalocco

Write-in Candidate

April Patalocco is running a serious write-in campaign for SC House in District 66 (in the little wedge of York County, northwest of Fort Mill, adjacent to the state line). Her opponent is Repujblican Jackie Terribile. No Democrat entered the Primary for D66. Patalocco refers to herself as a ‘moderate’, with no party affiliation on her website, but is generally supported by Democrats in D66 and YCDP. She has stressed the importance of spelling her name correctly in the write-in box on your ballot.

Democratic Interest in the Republican Primary….

Because none of the Democrats running in races covering York County had any Democratic opposition, there was no Democratic Primary on June 11. None of the third party candidates had in-party opposition, either, so the only ballot available on June 11 was a Republican Ballot.

This was an unusual situation that may not be repeated in the near future. But in a very red state and county, we understand that some races are essentially decided in the Republican primaries. When there are Democratic contests in the Primary, that presents a difficult choice for York County Democrats.

Remembering that South Carolina has open primaries (voters don’t declare a party when they register – we are all technically unaffiliated or independent), voters can choose any one party’s ballot in a Primary. (Your choice of ballot will be public record. Your choice of candidate, of course, remains secret.) So, do you choose a Democratic ballot to vote for Democrats in some offices, or a Republican ballot to make the only real choice you’ll have for those offices?

That, of course, is up to you.

The YCDP does not recommend crossover voting. It messes up our records (we try to keep track of Democrats for announcements and fundraising), and in some cases limits your participation in some Democratic Party activities. If you vote in a Republican Primary, that party gets your voter information, and will start sending you candidate and party solicitations in the mail (we do that to Republicans who vote in Democratic Primaries, too). Note that if you vote in a Republican Primary, you are not obligated to vote for that candidate in the General Election in November.

Again, YCDP does not recommend crossover voting. It’s beyond the pervue of this web site to further analyze those options in a Primary, but we’ll probably discuss them on our YouTube/podcast channels.

16th Circuit Solicitor's Office

The Solicitor is the chief prosecuting attorney within a judicial circuit. South Carolina has sixteen judicial circuits which are comprised of two or more counties within the State. The 16th Circuit covers York and Union Counties.

Republican Kevin Brackett, the incumbent, defeated Tyler Bratton in the Republican primary. The partisan office has a four-year term. He has no Democratic opposition, so will likely be the winner of the November election (write-ins are possible).

County Offices

The offices below serve only York County (or parts of York County).

See a full list of all political office holders serving York County (at the Federal, State and County level) here.

York County Council

County Council Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6 are up for election in 2024. Bump Roddey (Council District 4) is the only Democrat on the Council, and he is not up for reelection this year.

Andrew Litten handily defeated Incumbent Allison Love and Jason Amentler during the Republican Primary for the District 2 race. The other races did not have a primary as the Republican incumbents were the only candidates to file. Those are Tom Audette for District 1, Christi Cox for District 5, and A. Watts Huckabee Sr. for District 6.

Current Council members are listed here.

York County Sheriff

York County Sheriff is a partisan office, elected every four years, and will be up for election in 2024.

This race has been an interesting one, even during the filing period. The York County Republican Party reopened its filing period after Republican Sheriff Kevin R. Tolson, the incumbent, withdrew his filing following a last-minute filing by his wife Beth Bryant Tolson, also a Republican. This is allowed in state law if there are less than two candidates in a party running for the position after one candidate withdraws or dies. There were a total of five candidates for Sheriff, all Republicans, on the ballot for June 11, and not surprisingly, that made a majority a difficult goal to attain.

There was a runoff election for York County Sheriff on June 25 between the top two vote getters, Michael Belk, who received 6,546 votes, and Tony Breeden, who received 6,364 votes.

The ultimate winner of that runoff was Tony Breeden. No Democrat has filed for the York County Sheriff position, so Breeden will have only write-in competition in November.

York County Clerk of Court

York County Clerk of Court and Register of Deeds is a partisan office, elected every four years, and will be up for election in 2024. Republican Angie M. Bryant is the incumbent. She is the only candidate who has filed.

York County Coroner

York County Coroner is a partisan office, elected every four years, and will be up for election in 2024. Republican Sabrina Gast is the incumbent and has filed for reelection. She is the only candidate who has filed.

Probate Court Judge

The Probate Court handles various matters including the administration of decedents' estates, the issuance of marriage licenses, the appointment of guardians and conservators, and involuntary commitments. It is headed by an elected probate judge who serves a four-year term, with elections in ‘mid-term- years, and will be up for election in 2026. Republican Carolyn E. Woodruff is the incumbent.

Probate Judge is a partisan, countywide office.

York County
School Boards

There are four School Districts in York County. Each ‘seat’ is non-partisan (in theory). The YCDP does not endorse candidates in non-partisan elections, and we won’t be listing candidates here. Candidate filing runs from August 1 – August 15, so this election was not part of the June Primary. Sevral candidate forums (recorded on YouTube) have been held, letting candidates present their platforms. This one has indexing for each candidate (only two were unable to participate).

Elections are held in even-numbered years, with staggered four-year terms. More info here.

Soil and Water
Conservation District Commission

The Commission consists of a board of five nonpartisan commissioners. There is a discrepancy between the York County website and the Commission’s own website. The County website says:

The Commission is comprised of five member seats, voted countywide, with staggered four-year terms. Three seats appear on the ballot during a Presidential election and two seats appear on the ballot during a Gubernatorial election.

The Commission’s website (which appears to be out of date), shows that three of the Commissioners are elected, while two are appointed.

While the Commission’s website does seem to be out of date (it lists Commissioners who’s terms expired in 2022), it appears to be correct about having three elected Commissioners and two appointed Commissioners. That’s based on York County’s Elected Representatives web page, which shows only three elected officials for Soil and Water. One of them, Peggy Palmer, is up for election this year.

However, no one has filed to run for Soil and Water Commissioner.

Watershed Conservation Districts

We have a lot of people looking after our water, it seems. In addition to the Soil and Water folks, there are two Watershed Conservation Districts serving York County.

Each Commission is comprised of five member seats with staggered four-year terms. Only voters that live in the these districts will see these offices on their ballots. Three seats will appear on the ballot during a Presidential election and two seats appear on the ballot during a Gubernatorial election. The offices are nonpartisan, so we won’t be following the candidates.

Fishing Creek Watershed District 13
The Fishing Creek Watershed lies west of Rock Hill (map).

Tinker's Creek Watershed District 33
The Tinker’s Creek is south of Rock Hill and the Watershed District includes both York and Chester Counties.