Red Bank, SC (Paul Kirby) - There was no surprise in the election to replace retiring Lexington County Council Member Bobby Keisler in Council District 5 Tuesday night. Gene “Bimbo” Jones defeated Bobby Porter to win that county council race.
Bimbo Jones is very well known across Lexington County and especially in District 5. He has been in the tire industry for decades and just the mention that Bimbo Jones was working at a specific dealership brought customers from across the area to that business. He is also known as a servant leader with what some would describe as good ole’ country common sense. He was running as a Republican and defeated Joel Tyson in the June primary to make it onto the ballot in November.
Bobby Porter serves on the South Congaree town council. He is a member of several Christian organizations and is a youth mentor with the YMCA. He lacked the name recognition that Jones has and filed as a Democrat to make it to the race in November. Normally in Lexington County, having the dreaded D beside your name means death for any candidate. Tuesday was no exception.
Porter was also counting on his education and experience to sway voters. He has an MBA from East Carolina University and is a licensed general contractor. His background includes dealing with finances and financial planning. He also said that his extensive knowledge of planning, building, and infrastructure would be very beneficial if elected to serve on the county council.
At 4:00 a.m. Wednesday, Jones had received 9,701 votes. Porter had 4,087 ballots cast in his name. Those numbers included the absentee in-person ballots but did not include the absentee ballots returned by mail. Those numbers could change after they are counted; however, they are not expected to flip the race. Once again, the absentee mail-in ballot totals were not listed in any race in Lexington County. Those ballot totals may have been added to the absentee in-person totals.
