Cody Simpson, a Home Branch native and South Carolina's next commissioner of agriculture, says his election brings the state's top agriculture office back to Clarendon County for the first time in more than two decades.
Simpson, a Republican, defeated Democrat DeShawn Blanding, who is from the Silver community, in the Nov. 3 general election. Statewide, Simpson received about 52 percent of the vote to Blanding's about 46 percent. In Clarendon County, the results certified on Friday, Nov. 6, showed Simpson with 6,681 votes and Blanding with 6,680.
After the race, Simpson said he is grateful to "fill the shoes of the late, great Les Tindal, who is from Panola in Clarendon County, and we are returning this office back to Clarendon County."
D. Leslie Tindal served as commissioner of agriculture from 1983 until he retired in 2002, and Simpson has described him as his mentor. Panola is a small farming community between Pinewood and Paxville, where the Tindal family still farms. The Tindal family endorsed Simpson during the campaign.
"This win is for him upstairs as well," Simpson said.
Simpson will succeed Hugh Weathers, a Republican who is retiring after 22 years as commissioner. The commissioner's four-year term begins in January.
Simpson grew up on his family's South Carolina Century Farm in Home Branch, which the family has worked since 1904. He previously served as agriculture adviser to Gov. Henry McMaster and as South Carolina state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency.
"Being from Home Branch community, I am so excited to win for the people of rural South Carolina," Simpson said. "We're not going to let them down."
Simpson said the department's focus under his leadership "will be to put South Carolina farmers and rural communities first," and that he plans to "cut regulations and red tape" to help agricultural businesses grow.