Preliminary vote totals show Retha Pierce lost her seat as mayor of Atlantic Beach. Jake Evans won the election with 66% of the vote. Pierce received 18% and Windy Price got 16%.
"It means everything to me. This is home. This is where I have been all my life. The morale of the community is up. It's been down for the last three months and we're where we want to be right now and we're going to stay here," Evans said Tuesday night.
Pierce was embroiled in controversy throughout her term, at one point being suspended from office by then-Governor Mark Sanford after she was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident. She was reinstated when that charge was dropped.
Charlene Taylor and Josephine Isom are the two top vote getters for the two open town council seats. Monique Pointer, Misty Umphries, and James Van Fleet were also running for those seats.
Taylor and Isom are familiar names on Atlantic Beach Town Council. They were removed from their seats on council by the South Carolina Supreme Court earlier this year, when the Justices ruled write-in candidates should have won the election in 2009.
For complete election results, click here.
Atlantic Beach results are expected to be certified Thursday.
