BEAUFORT, S.C. — Beaufort voters head to the polls Tuesday to fill two at-large seats on City Council, and four people are on the ballot for them. Voting runs 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and the top two vote-getters win four-year terms.
The field includes incumbent Josh Scallate, a realtor seeking a second term, and three people trying to join the council: Grady Woods, Jared Madison and Thad Lane. The other seat on the ballot opens because Mike McFee, an 18-year council veteran, chose not to run again. City races in Beaufort are nonpartisan, so no party labels appear next to the names on the five-member council ballot.
Fixing the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park is the issue all four keep returning to. Shoring up the promenade could run about $66 million, and the city budget for fiscal 2027 sets aside $925,000 for engineering on the relieving platform under it. Scallate wants a local share paired with state and federal grants. Woods, an architect who sat on the Historic District Review Board, wants new discretionary projects put on hold until the park has full funding and a finish date.
Growth is the other thread. Madison, a restaurant server who serves on a city committee on the park, backs rules that would test whether roads and utilities can handle a project before it is approved. Lane, a longtime restaurant manager, says he would cut the budget and lower taxes.
The race also comes as the city weighs a pause on new apartment construction and waits on results of a review into a records breach dating to July 2025.
Section: More Beaufort SC politics news
Filed under: Beaufort SC Politics News
