11/4/04

Land retains Senate seat, two-to-one
By Kent Compton

District 36 State Senator John Land won a by a little more than a two-to-one margin in Tuesday’s general election. Of the 13,443 votes cast in the District 36 race in Clarendon, Land received 9,086 votes and 4,347 placed their vote for Bob Gibbons of New Zion. After hearing the number of votes he received in Clarendon County, Gibbons conceded the race to Land.

In a written statement Gibbons said, “I will have to commend my opponent on how well the campaign was conducted. We had some good times during the campaign. At this point, I will concede and congratulate Sen. John C. Land III on his bid for re-election. As you know, this will be his 30th anniversary in the state capital. If he is not able to fill his full term, I will be waiting for another opportunity.”

Gibbons said he started his campaign late because of commitments he had as state commander of the American Legion.

“ I knew it was going to be hard to win Clarendon County,” Gibbons said. “I was hoping to be able to pull at least 40 percent of the Clarendon County vote and hopefully be able to win in the other counties. We were hoping to have a better showing but it was probably because I didn’t get started until Sept. 1. I do appreciate the citizens that voted for me.”

Gibbons said he still supports Gov. Mark Sanford and will do what he can to restructure state government, bring about tort reform, reduce personal income taxes and help agribusiness.

Land said he is very grateful for being re-elected after serving this area for 30 years.

“ I want to thank everyone that voted for me and had the confidence in me to serve the people four more years,” Land said. “Clarendon County has given me a great opportunity over the many years, as we all watched it grow. In the past 10 years, the county has grown 14.5 percent. There are other rural counties that have either held their own or has decreased in population in those same 10 years. I believe Clarendon County has grown because of our lakes, our easy access to I-95 and good political leadership.”

Land said the area has already attracted a lot of retirees and new small businesses.

“ We hope we can still attract more businesses like the new Arby’s that will be opening up on I-95 soon,” Land said. “We have good schools throughout the county and I’m going to do everything to foster the Medicare system so our medical needs will be met.”

Land also thanked Gibbons for a good clean race and for running a fine campaign.

“ Mr. Gibbons is a good man,” Land said. “He’s a veteran and led the state as commander of the American Legion this past year. I really appreciate the approach he had for the election.”

Unofficial statewide results for the District 36 seat showed Land receiving 61.82 percent of the votes cast in the counties the district covers. Gibbons received 34.37 percent.