White wins Allendale County council primary, Alexander advances in District 91 race

James White emerged from the June 9 primary as the clear winner in the one contested Allendale County council race, while Daniel Alexander’s Republican victory in State House District 91 pushed Allendale into a larger November fight over who will speak for the region in Columbia. The results left White positioned to keep his County Council District 2 seat and shifted the focus to the district-level contest that reaches into Allendale, Barnwell and Orangeburg counties.

White defeated Richard Dean Allen 150 votes to 51, a 74.63% to 25.37% margin in the Democratic Primary. No Republican filed for the District 2 seat, so White is expected to retain the council post after the November general election. That made District 2 the county’s only contested local office race on the ballot, a small but important test of whether an incumbent would be kept or replaced in a county where council decisions shape day-to-day priorities.

Alexander, a Barnwell resident, won the Republican Primary for House District 91 with 1,949 votes, or 80.30%, over Tyler Morgan’s 478 votes, or 19.70%. He now moves on to face incumbent Rep. Lonnie Hosey, a Democrat from Barnwell who has served in the South Carolina House of Representatives since June 1, 1999. Because District 91 includes Allendale County, the race will help determine who argues for state attention on roads, schools and funding in the rural Salkehatchie corridor.

The local council race also reflected different visions for Allendale’s future. White campaigned on continuing his first term, pointing to population decline, poverty and the possibility of new economic activity tied to Hampton Industries and other incoming business. Allen, a longtime Allendale business owner, said he brought grant funding to the county in 2023 and cast presentation, infrastructure and crime as the county’s biggest problems. Those themes will remain central even with the primary decided, because the winning council member will still have to answer to residents facing long-running economic pressure.

The June primary came amid a record-breaking statewide early-voting period, with more than 318,600 ballots cast before Election Day. The South Carolina Election Commission said the primary affected all 46 counties, and in Allendale County the result was a narrow map of power: White held the county’s only contested council seat, while Alexander advanced into a district race that could shape how Allendale’s interests are represented this fall.