Massey wins state Senate, Setzler re-elected, Smith keeps House seat
Though the Democratic Party and President-Elect Obama made gains nationwide, Aiken and surrounding district remain GOP stronghold.
The most hotly contested race involving Aiken County’s state representatives fell to Shane Massey Tuesday night as he beat out democratic challenger Greg Anderson by around 3,500 votes in the State Senate District 25 race.
“I’m glad it’s over, I’m ready to sleep,” joked Massey after his win. “But, I was not elected to sit back and enjoy this. I need to try and stay in touch with people and try to change the status quo.”
Massey said he was proud of his win and his campaign. At press time Tuesday, he had amassed 19,612 votes to his opponents 16,102 with 57 of 70 precincts reporting or 81 percent of the vote.
“We had a tremendous number of volunteers, we couldn’t have done it without them,” he said.
Massey went on to compliment his friend Anderson and thanked him for being part of the process and keeping his decency during the race.
The Senate District 26 race to represent Aiken, Lexington and Saluda counties was not as close a race as Nikki Setzler triumphed.
At press time, Nikki Setzler had 19,491 votes coming from Aiken and Lexington Counties while Margaret Gamble trailed by near 8,000 standing at 11,461. Saluda County votes were not available.
“I am very humbled and honored that the citizens would reelect me,” incumbent Setzler said, “It is truly a tremendous privileged and honor.”
In an Aiken-based race, Rep. Roland Smith retained his House District 84 seat handsomely beating democratic challenger Russell Curry.
“I am grateful that the people of Aiken County and District 84 have again put their faith in me to serve for the next two years,” Smith said. “It will be a difficult two years the way the economy is.
But, we are not going to raise taxes, that is number one.” Smith garnered nearly two-thirds of the total vote, 8,874 votes, versus 4,974 for Curry. Curry would not accept phone calls Tuesday evening.
In the State House District 83 seat Don Smith retained his seat which spans portions of Aiken and Edgefield Counties.
Smith, the incumbent, won with by a landslide not in small part, he thought, to the lack of visibility by his opponent Judy Hamilton.
“It was a good campaign, we put forth the issues and things we would like to work on,” Smith said. “Education is the key thing, the number one issue in this constituency.”
Also, 4,413 individuals cast their vote for democrat Hamilton while 11,123 voted for Smith to stay in office.
By MIKE GELLATLY
The Aiken Standard
November 5, 2008
