ST. GEORGE – Dorchester County’s treasurer defeated veteran lawmaker Rep. George Bailey Tuesday night for the S.C. House District 97 seat.

Bailey, a Republican, squeaked by with fewer than 500 votes in his previous two elections to hold onto the seat. But Democrat Patsy Knight, a well-known figure in state and local government, defeated Bailey 4,843 to 4,653.

Knight said she will be “calm, cool and collected” until Friday’s election certification, even though Bailey called and conceded, congratulating her on a good race

“The contributing factor has been the trust and honesty people saw in me over the years as county treasurer,” Knight said.

She said her vision is for all levels of government to communicate more to bring more development and create more jobs.

Bailey said “She ran a good campaign and got her people out to vote. If I can do anything to help her in the transition, I will. She did a masterful job of getting out their base vote.”

Bailey said he’s not going to talk about the possibility of a rematch in 2008.

“Obviously, I think this is a Republican seat and in time it will come to show,” he said. “I’m going to spend time with my wife, take trips and see my grandchildren play ball.”

In other Dorchester County races, Democrat Willie Davis beat his Republican challenger to win a fifth four-year term on Dorchester County Council. Davis received 2,228 votes in the District 1 race to Republican J. Don Canaday’s 1,354.

Davis said he wants to see sewer come to upper Dorchester County, plus more industry and development to lower the burden for Dorchester County taxpayers.

Democrat Kenneth “Kenny” Waggoner won yet another term to represent County Council District 3 with 2,363 votes to Republican challenger Arthur Bryngelson’s 1,637.

In other races:

Governor

Mark Sanford – 18,460

Tommy Moore – 9,747

Lieutenant Governor

Andre Bauer – 14,707

Robert Barber – 13,423

Treasurer

Thomas Ravenel – 16,352

Grady Patterson – 11,854

Secretary of State

Mark Hammond – 18,069

Cheryl Footman – 9,666

Superintendent of Education

Karen Floyd – 15,546

Jim Rex – 10,708

Comptroller General

Richard Eckstrom – 16,718

Drew Theodore – 10,998

Commissioner of Agriculture

Hugh Weathers – 17,469

Emile DeFelice – 10,048

Adjutant General

Stanhope “Stan” Spears – 16,333

Glenn Lindman – 11,010

Amendment No. 1

Yes – 21,346

No – 6,412

Amendment 2a

Yes – 19,339

No – 7,203

Amendment 2b

Yes – 18,217

No – 8,058

Amendment 3a

Yes – 18,839

No – 7,934

Amendment 3b

Yes – 16,561

No – 9,598

Amendment 4

Yes – 10,964

No – 8,053

Amendment 5

Yes – 23,544

No – 3,520

T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon contributed to this report.

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