Daily Journal: Sandifer Beats Alexander, wins fifth State House term
By Ray Chandler, newsed@dailyjm.com
WALHALLA – Republican Bill Sandifer will return to the State House for a fifth term representing District Two, after defeating Democratic challenger Daniel W. Alexander in Tuesday’s voting by almost a 2-1 margin.
Sandifer took an early lead in the vote county and build on his lead by winning every precinct. In the final tally, the Seneca businessman had garnered 6,211 votes to Alexanders’s 3,615. The incumbent had run a campaign that stressed his experience among his strong views on fiscal responsibility and economic development, his concerns over water issues and the state’s Silver Card prescription drug plan, and his opposition to school vouchers.
“I believe this is a mandate from the people that I have proved to be the kind of representative they desire for the last eight years and they want it to continue,” said Sandifer. Sandifer looks forward to returning to Columbia and confronting the problems he sees facing the state. He sees two problems most pressing.
“The first problem is the budget”, he said. “We have a huge shortfall, and we will have to make cuts where appropriate.”
Sandifer is confident that fiscal responsibility can be restored while furthering another goal he sees as critical.
“We’ve got to continue making education our number one priority,” he said. “My philosophy is that education should take up more than 50 percent of the state budget. So we have to minimize the impact on education while making the cuts that are appropriate.”
Another priority for Sandifer is passage of campaign finance reform.
“We need to bring sunshine into the political process,” he said. “We have to make sure no outside group can get undue influence.”