James White seeks another term, says Allendale County is on the move

James White Jr. is asking District 2 voters to keep him on Allendale County Council as the county weighs whether new industry can reverse years of population loss and limited opportunity. In the June 9 Democratic primary, White faces Richard Dean Allen in the county’s only contested race.

White’s pitch is built less on biography than on what he says re-election would mean for daily life in a county of 7,355 residents spread across 408.1 square miles. He has lived in Allendale most of his life, apart from college years at the College of Charleston and a brief internship in Washington, D.C. He said his mother taught in the Allendale County School District, he grew up at Happy Home Baptist Church, took part in Boy Scout Troop 631, attended county schools and later taught social studies for five years at Allendale-Fairfax High School.

The council seat matters because Allendale County uses a council-administrator form of government, with five district council members and a chair. The council meets every third Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Allendale County Courthouse, where members help steer budgets, roads, development and county services. For District 2, that means decisions on basic government operations can quickly reach residents through everything from infrastructure spending to public safety and county finances.

White’s campaign message fits a county still dealing with hard numbers. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Allendale County’s population at 7,355 on July 1, 2025, down from 8,039 in the 2020 census and 10,419 in 2010. The county’s 2024 American Community Survey showed a median household income of $32,328, a bachelor’s degree-or-higher rate of 14.3 percent and an employment rate of 39.9 percent.

Those pressures have already shaped council business. In 2023, meetings dealt with healthcare access, broadband, housing, water rates and a mental health vehicle. The council also faced a financial crunch and extended the budget indefinitely in June 2024, after former county administrator Bert O’Rear was terminated in June 2023 without explanation.

White said he remembers the textile plants and industries that once supported local families, and he argued that rural Allendale was hit hard by economic change, population decline, long commutes and deeper poverty. He pointed to Hampton Lumber’s June 2025 decision to locate its first East Coast operation in Allendale County as proof that the county can still attract major investment. The project is expected to bring a $225 million investment and at least 125 jobs.

White framed that kind of recruitment as an economic multiplier, saying the county can use land availability, forestry resources, highways and rail access to build a place of opportunity again. His campaign is a bet on continuity: not a reset, but more motion in a county that has spent years trying to regain its footing.