Election night: Roddey and Adkins win York County Council seats by wide margins

As the clock wound down on election night, clear winners emerged for both contested York County Council seats.

All precincts reported by a little after midnight. All results are unofficial.

Democrat William “Bump” Roddey defeated Republican Jonathan Moreno in the Dist. 4 race. Roddey had almost 63% of the vote. In Dist. 3, Republican Tommy Adkins scored almost 77% of the vote against Democrat Michael Schonfeld.

Roddey is a five-term representative, the current longest-serving council member. Moreno is a former Rock Hill police officer who was involved in a controversial arrest where he faced charges, but was found not guilty by a jury.

Moreno and Roddey faced off for a district that covers much of Rock Hill including parts of the Winthrop University, I-77 and Anderson Road areas. The district was the only one in York County prior to Tuesday’s election, as it has been since 2018, represented by a Democrat.

The Dist. 3 seat opened as Robert Winkler opted not to run for re-election. It’s the biggest geographical district covering almost half the county, including its entire western border. York, McConnells, Hickory Grove, Sharon and Smyrna are included.

Adkins is a dairy farmer and mechanic. Schonfeld is a chiropractor and nonprofit founder. Both ran on visions of how they’d handle residential growth that’s spilled into their area from larger parts of York County like Rock Hill and Fort Mill.

Moreno, Roddey in Dist. 4

Roddey took a break about an hour before polls closed, after a final push for votes.

“We hit every precinct, checked the numbers, shook a few hands,” Roddey said.

The long-time councilman then settled in for a watch party across from the post office downtown. Roddey said he wanted to make the contest about who can best help with infrastructure, jobs and other daily life concerns for people in Rock Hill. Not about the letters beside the candidates’ names.

“I tried my best to convey to people, let’s not make local politics about Democrats and Republicans. We’re doing things to elevate the community. Local politics shouldn’t follow the national politics.”

Efforts to obtain comment from Moreno on election night were unsuccessful.

Adkins, Schonfeld in Dist. 3

Adkins said he woke up Tuesday, milked the cows, cleaned up and went to vote. Then he went to town to talk to people before returning to the farm.

“The phone ain’t stopped,” Adkins said mid-election day. “The texts ain’t stopped.”

On Monday night, York County Council narrowly voted down new school impact fees for western York County. It’s one piece of what Adkins believes was the key factor in his area — growth.

“Especially in Dist. 3 because of the amount of houses being built and no infrastructure to support it,” Adkins said. “That is one of the biggest controlling factors for the whole county. The people are about to get fed up.”

Voters this fall are concerned with rising costs of daily items, Adkins said, not to mention rising energy bills that could hit if the weather gets cold.

“There’s a lot on the plate,” Adkins said.

The candidate set up on election night at Towne Tavern in York, with friends gathering precinct results like they did for him during the Republican primary vote. Adkins said regardless the outcome, his day Wednesday wouldn’t vary much. He’d still find people to share their takes on issues that impact the area.

“I can bring the perspective that not many people have ever been able to, because of actually being in the community daily with all of these average citizens,” Adkins said.

And, there would be cows to milk come morning.

“That’s a given,” Adkins said.

Schonfeld said he knew going into the Dist. 3 race he would be the underdog. As voters headed to the polls Tuesday Schonfeld knew he wasn’t likely to win, as a Democrat in a decidedly red area.

“I’m glad I did it,” Schonfeld said. “I have no bad feelings about doing it.”

Schonfeld said the county decision Monday night to pass on school impact fees was “kind of devastating” and there are issues in Dist. 3 that still need to be addressed like the water supply to Sharon. Schonfeld said many people don’t want more people to move to western York County, but that it will happen because it’s an attractive area. Also, he said, people want reliable services but not a change to the rural nature there.

“People want healthcare,” Schonfeld said. “They want emergency service, and people don’t want growth.”

Party politics

York County Council members often downplay the role of party politics at their level of government, but of late it’s clearly been a smoother route for Republicans to get elected. Roddey has been the only Democrat on the seven-member council since the 2018 election, when fellow Democrat Chad Williams chose not to run after 10 years of service. There haven’t been more than two Democrats on council at any one time since 1994.

The county didn’t always run red. The last Democratic majority on council occurred in 1992 when Caldwell Barron, John Douglas, Jane Gilfillan, Joe Newton and Murray White outnumbered two Republicans Peggy Upchurch and David Vipperman.

Council as it exists now began in 1977 with elections, until the most recent decade, every two years. Democrats held the majority up until 1992, often claiming all or all but one seat. From 1979 to 1984 the entire council consisted of Democrats.

In a non-scientific online survey the Herald posted prior to Tuesday’s election, party politics ranked well behind the economy, abortion and inflation as issues most likely to motivate voters. About half of the responses there came from people who indicated they typically vote independent, or chose not to say which party they’d choose.

While Roddey doesn’t believe county council seats will ever go nonpartisan, he’d see some merit in the idea.

“We’re the ones that have the greatest impact on your daily life, and it shouldn’t get down to border issues, abortion issues, inflation issues,” Roddey said. “That’s not what we decide.”

Often seats are decided, he said, by the party tag beside a candidate’s name. Candidates in nonpartisan races have an advantage there, Roddey said.

“It would kind of force everyone to look at the individual,” he said.

Check back for more.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 9:30 PM.