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Article published Nov 3, 2004
Re-election sweet for Reese

ALEXANDER MORRISON
Staff Writer

Democratic incumbent Glenn Reese defeated Republican challenger Steve Parker to keep his state Senate seat, according to unofficial returns Tuesday night.All four local incumbent state senators from Spartanburg and Cherokee counties were re-elected. Other incumbent winners were John Hawkins in District 12, Jim Ritchie in District 13 and Harvey Peeler in District 14. Ritchie ran unopposed.Reese's District 11 race was the only one widely considered to be in doubt.However, the 62-year-old owner of the local Krispy Kreme Doughnuts franchise won relatively easily."I felt like if everything would work out as it should and, as long as there were no October surprises, which there weren't, the numbers would take care of themselves," Reese said Tuesday night as he declared victory.Reese received 16,962 votes or 56 percent, compared to Parker's 13,527 votes or 44 percent.Parker, 53, fell short despite heavy support from the state Republican Party.The owner of Steve Parker Painting blitzed the airwaves with a $120,000 television advertisingcampaign in the last two weeks before the election. Reese's TV budget was just over $14,000.Gov. Mark Sanford endorsed and campaigned for Parker, a two-year county councilman. Sanford stumped twice for Parker in October. Before those visits, Sanford had not been to Spartanburg for months.Parker, who will continue as a member of Spartanburg County Council, ran primarily on the promise that he would support Sanford's agenda.Reese said he plans to focus on health-care reform and economic development in the coming legislative session.Reese, a 14-year state Senate veteran, also defeated Parker in 2000 with 58 percent of the vote.Democrats and Republicans alike believed subsequent redistricting would make the race closer.Parker, however, was unable to get much traction in majority black precincts in northern Spartanburg County."The Republican Party put a ton of money in this race. It bought them about four points," Reese said.While Reese said he could have gotten help from prominent state Democrats, he preferred to campaign on his own merits.There was little suspense in the two other local state Senate races.Despite narrowly winning his own primary, first-term Republican incumbent Hawkins easily defeated Democrat Leonardo Ortiz for the 12th district seat.Hawkins pulled in 24,365 votes or 70 percent, while Ortiz won 10,196 votes or 30 percent."Competition makes you better," Hawkins said Tuesday night. "We had a great day today."Hawkins, a 36-year-old attorney, ran on a platform of property tax reform. He hopes to replace the state's property taxes with a 2-cent sales tax hike. He also emphasized his belief that the state Legislature should define marriage as a union between a man and woman.Ortiz, 47, has a non-attorney federal administrative legal practice. He had no prior legislative experience and had advocated a rather radical agenda, pledging to jump-start the area's economy by bringing back video poker and building an ethanol plant.Hawkins received 69 percent of his district's votes in 2000.Republican incumbent Peeler also easily defeated Democrat Rick Dizbon in the 14th district.The race centered on constituent service. Dizbon, 51, a retired school administrator, claimed Peeler had stopped listening to his constituency. Peeler disagreed.Peeler, a 56-year-old dairyman, pointed to his efforts to bring a Spartanburg Technical College campus to Cherokee County as evidence of his commitment to the local community.Peeler received 12,173 votes or 66 percent against Dizbon's 6,147 votes, in unofficial returns.Peeler said he was "humbled" by the two-thirds margin.Peeler ran unopposed in his last election.State senators receive an annual salary of $10,400.Alexander Morrison can be reached at (864) 562-7215 or alex.morrison@shj.com.