The results are in from Tuesday’s mayoral election in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina … and we like what we see (so far).
Businesswoman Brenda Bethune – whose candidacy was endorsed last week by this news site’s founding editor, Will Folks – received 40 percent of the vote. Incumbent mayor John Rhodes finished second with 29 percent.
Because neither candidate received a majority of ballots cast, the race will move to a winner-take-all runoff on Tuesday, November 21.
Our view? We’re surprised, honestly. We suspected Bethune and Rhodes would advance to a runoff election, but we thought the top two candidates would be far more evenly matched than this.
Tuesday’s results bode poorly for Rhodes …
Myrtle Beach has been dogged in recent years by rising crime, dirty water, higher taxes, crony capitalism and an underlying failure to innovate.
We don’t necessarily believe Rhodes deserves the blame for all of that (Myrtle Beach operates under a “weak mayor” system) but we don’t think he’s been the leader the city needs either.
Is Bethune that leader? We’re not sure … but we’re willing to give her a chance to show us what she’s got.
Stay tuned …
If Palmetto State politics are crazy (and trust us, they are), then politics in Myrtle Beach are positively certifiable. In other words we expect to see rampant nuttiness in the run-up to the November 21 runoff election …
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