NEWBERRY COUNTY — Carlton Kinard and Rick Martin have locked up the Democratic and Republican nominations, respectively, in the race for House District 40.
Kinard received 1,194 votes while his opponent Craig Kesler, who declined to comment for this story, garnered 602.
“I’m excited,” Kinard said. “I’m just ready to continue to get to work and make sure that we continue to push and win the general election.”
Kinard stressed that simply sticking signs in the ground does not win elections and said he plans to go door-to-door and speak with people.
“Fired up. We’re ready to go,” he said.
On the Republican side, Martin triumphed with 1,772 votes while David Koon received 662.
“Thank you so much to all the people that voted for me and put their faith in me,” Martin said. “It means so much to me to have their vote and I’m humbled.”
Following eight months of campaigning, Martin said he plans to take his daughters to the beach and said when he returns he will begin going door-to-door and hopes to speak with every voter in the county.
“I want to hear what the people have to say,” Martin said. “Not what I have to say. I want to hear what they have to say — what their main issues are and address those.”
Meanwhile Koon said he was proud of the campaign he and his team ran.
“I’m very grateful to everybody who helped and supported me,” he said.
The seat is being vacated by longtime representative Walt McLeod who has held the office since 1997.
McLeod said he decided not to run for re-election because he felt that our system of government runs better when new people are put into office.
Kinard and Martin will now face each other in the November General Election.
In total, Newberry County has 22,749 registered voters. In Tuesday’s primary, 4,255 of those cast votes for an 18.70 percent voter turnout. In the 2014 primary, Newberry County had 16 percent voter turnout.