Republican Val Guest to challenge Democrat Ryan Thompson for State House Seat in November

Republican Val Guest took home today’s primary run-off election against Republican Brian Sweeney. Guest will compete against Democrat Ryan Thompson in November 2022 for the Surfside Beach State House Seat.

Guest won 54.32% of the votes, that is 1,856 votes and said that he is “very excited” for November.

“I’m very happy that voters got out today,” he said. “I’m just thankful for all the voters that got out and voted for me, and I’m looking forward to November.”

Sweeney ended the night with 45.68% of the votes, that is 1,561 votes.

“It was an adventurous race,” he said. “Interesting, educational, met a lot of great people and we never know what might happen next. So I’m disappointed, but still, that’s the way it was meant to be.”

Thompson is looking forward to facing Guest in November.

“Well it looks like tonight was a good night for Val and I’m glad to see that all of the money that has gone in this race has been well spent,” Thompson said. “I wanna ensure that voters know this race is far from over. It’s just beginning. ... I look forward to seeing Mr. Guest on a debate stage whenever we can find a time and place.”

It was determined there would be a run-off when two weeks ago, Guest ended the night with roughly 38% of the votes, that is, 2,627 votes, and Sweeney ended the night with roughly 32% of the votes, that is, 2,174 votes, according to the South Carolina Election Commission.

The last two weeks have been busy for Guest and Sweeney.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get the people to vote again so soon after the primary,” Guest said. “The last two weeks have been nonstop. ... But I feel good about things and the people I’ve talked to have indicated that they’re gonna come back and if they do vote the way they told me, then I feel like things will go well for me.

Guest also said that both Howard Barnard and Bruce Bailey, the other two Republican candidates that ran for this State House seat in the primaries, have endorsed him.

Sweeney said that he was “cautiously optimistic” about today’s results.

“The last two weeks have been very hectic. Lots of activities, lots of speeches, talks, meeting with people, all the good things,” he said. “I enjoyed it very much.”

Sweeney said that he ran on a platform that is “pro-life” and “pro-Second Amendment.”

“I want to have honest elections,” he said. “I want to remove tax money from going to the Myrtle Beach area Chamber of Commerce. ... The roads need to be fixed and the infrastructure needs to be improved.”

Guest said that if he is elected, that his focus will be on “bring(ing) back our fair share.”

“We send a good bit of money to Columbia, through all the revenues we get for the taxes for tourism and stuff like that,” he said. “Obviously, we’re not gonna bring back dollar for dollar, but if we can bring back the money that we deserve, then we’ll have money for our infrastructure, to maintain our roads and bridges, build new roads, we’ll have money to pay the teachers, law enforcement, our first responders. We will have not just money to pay their salaries, but to also provide them the resources they need for training, and to do the job.”

Guest said that he also hopes to work towards improving Horry County’s evacuation system.