SWANSEA, S.C. — Victoria McDaniel has a large lead in the Swansea mayor's race based on final but unofficial results.
McDaniel got 49% of the vote with 101 votes, while Michael Luongo got 35% of the vote with 72 votes. The two other candidates, Hunter Hacket and Ray Spries, got 16 percent of the vote combined.
The Lexington County Election Commission told News19 Wednesday the provision ballots must be counted and they'll have official results within the next day.
McDaniel says she grew up in Swansea and raised her family there. Now that she has retired from over 30 years of service with DHEC, McDaniel says she wants to serve as mayor.
“I’ve always been involved with the town and everything, and I noticed how the council itself was separated, and they weren’t getting much done," McDaniel said. "So, I want to get in there and be a unifier, and try to bring the town together where we can get things done as a team because if they follow the articles of the strong council-weak mayor system, it’s team work, team effort.
Luongo is a current councilman for Swansea, who has owned and operated a small business for over 30 years. While he didn’t grow up in Swansea, Luongo says he came to love the small town through his wife, who did.
“If I’m able to win their vote, as their mayor, a couple things ... First is we want to make sure that our council, which is a strong council-weak mayor form of government, is put back into place," Luongo said. "That’s why I put my name in the hat for mayor ... to hopefully continue what I’ve been doing for the last four years.”
The Town of Swansea has been without a mayor since July when former Mayor Jerald Sanders, who had been mayor since 2017, turned himself in on charges of taking public money.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster suspended Sanders from office after his indictment and appointed Mayor Pro-Tem Woodrow Davis to serve as the interim mayor.
Viola McDaniel and Michael Luongo will face each other in a runoff election on Tuesday, November 16.