Lone contested Sumter City Council race down to 2; Brown, Gibson make Ward 1 runoff

Two candidates will go head to head in a runoff for the Sumter City Council Ward 1 seat on Nov. 22. 
Joe Brown and Anthony Gibson will compete for the seat after receiving the most votes of five candidates. Brown received the most with 33.83% of votes, or 338 votes, and Gibson received the second most with 26.23%, or 262 votes, according to election results.
Totals will be made official on Friday, according to the Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Office, once failsafe votes are considered, though those are not often more than a handful. Absentee and early votes are already included in Tuesday’s totals.
Three other opponents received votes as follows: Derek Gamble was third with 24.22%, or 242 votes; Barbette Thames was fourth with 8.21%, or 82 votes; and Reginald “Reggie” Evans was fifth with 6.21%, or 62 votes.
Neither Brown nor Gibson has held public office before. The winner will succeed the recently late Thomas Lowery, who passed away this month after a long battle with his ailing health. He served on council for 20 years and was not running for reelection.
Brown is a Sumter native, originally from South Sumter, and works as a bail bondsman. He jumped into the Ward 1 race to be a strong voice for people in advocating for job and business growth, youth growth and development in his district and throughout the city and making it eco-friendly and safe. 
“The train is moving, so let’s keep the train on the track and continue doing what we’re doing,” Brown said. “Stay the course.”
Gibson moved to Ward 1 in 2007 and is currently the senior pastor of Grace Cathedral Ministries in Sumter. He is also a Realtor with Keller Williams Columbia, serving Sumter, Clarendon and Richland counties. 
He ran for office on his love for the city and with hope to do more to better it. His hope is to promote growth and enhance the quality of life in the city for residents. 
“I wanted to thank all the candidates that ran for Ward 1. We had a pretty clean race, and I think that was great,” Gibson said.
He was grateful to be voted in the top two, but there’s still more work to do. Gibson asks voters to return to the polls Nov. 22.
“We still have a lot of work to do to get to Nov. 22. That’s really what’s on my mind right now,” Gibson said. “It’s not over. I’m grateful for last night, but we still have work to do, and hopefully we can win and get to work with public service and trying to help people. That’s the ultimate goal.”