Who won school board seats in Lexington County

In four Lexington County school districts, voters on Tuesday decided what their school boards would look like.

Seats in Lexington 1, Lexington 2, Lexington 3 and Lexington 4 were all up for grabs. Voters also decided two school board races and a bond referendum in Lexington-Richland 5.

In the central part of Lexington County, voters in Lexington 1 chose four board members from nine candidates in an at-large, district-wide election.

With a total of 143,000 votes cast Tuesday night, school board incumbent Kathy Henson came in first in unofficial results with 15% of the vote, followed by former journalist McKenzie Flashnick at 12%, and S.C. Department of Transportation employee Nicholas Pizzuti at 11%. Mike Anderson (11%), the only other incumbent in a crowded field, had a narrow lead over real estate agent Shelton Yonce (10.13%) and claims adjuster Dana Homesley (10.1%) for the fourth seat.

Lexington 1 covers the central part of the county, from the south shores of Lake Murray through the town of Lexington to Gilbert and Pelion.

In Lexington 2, candidates chose another four seats on the school board that covers the cities of Cayce and West Columbia.

Mary Burkett led with 17% of the vote, followed by Liz Castles with 15%, and Craig Aull with 14% and Tre Bray with 13%.

In Lexington 3 in the Batesburg-Leesville area, five candidates contested four seats. With half of the vote in, Cynthia Etheredge had 27% of the vote to Stacey Derrick’s 21% and Craig Caughman’s 20%. Sonya Winstead Cary would snag the final seat, almost 900 votes ahead of Burgundy Barr.

In Lexington 4, another four seats were up for the board in Gaston and Swansea.

Lynn Fallaw led with 22% of the vote, followed by Sadie Wannamaker with 17%, Dennis Wilson with 16% and Cindy Dibble with 15%. Tina Brantley trailed in the hunt for the final spot by 217 votes.