Pendergrass wins; Hamman advances
Lee County voters decided to stick with one incumbent on the Lee County Commission during Tuesday’s primary election, while the incumbent in a second race will move on to November.
In the District 2 race, incumbent Cecil L. Pendergrass held his ground against his challenger, Paige Rausch. As the only two candidates who both represented the Republican party, it was winner take all. Pendergrass garnered 67.90 percent of the total votes cast, compared to 32.10 percent from Rausch.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “The last two years, Lee County has seen what I’ve been able to do.”
“The voters made a strong statement tonight by choosing me,” Pendergrass added. “I look forward to serving Lee County the next four years.”
As for his priorities in the next term, he cited the budget, water quality and the local economy.
Pendergrass would not have changed anything about his campaign, and he thanked his supporters.
“I’m honored to serve them another four years,” he said.
Rausch did not return a message Tuesday seeking comment on the election results.
In the District 4 race, incumbent Brian Hamman sought to retain his party’s nomination against opponents Andy Coy and Sawyer C. Smith. He scored the highest total number of votes, with 44.71 percent. He advances to face off against Democrat Debbie Jordan in the Nov. 4 general election.
Smith came in second with 35.06 percent, while Coy earned 20.23 percent of the votes.
“We are so grateful to the voters of Lee County for choosing us,” Hamman said. “I just want to say thank you to the voters.”
He called it a long hard year and said he faced two worthy opponents.
“I want to thank those gentlemen for running a very good race,” Hamman said.
He believes that voters support a fresh perspective for Lee County.
“We plan on bringing this home in November,” Hamman said, adding that his campaign will run as hard as it did leading up to the primary. “We want to let voters know why they should vote for us.”
Coy congratulated Hamman on winning the Republican nomination.
“It was a wonderful 12 months,” he said. “I greatly enjoyed the campaign.”
“Obviously, we would have preferred to have won,” Coy added. “But it was a labor of love to be out campaigning with folks again.”
He extended his appreciation to those who supported him.
“When you spend 3 percent and get 21 percent of the votes, it’s not that bad,” Coy said.
Smith did not return a message Tuesday seeking comment on the election results.