ABBEVILLE, S.C. — Abbeville voters in City Council District 2 will fill an open seat on Tuesday, Nov. 3, choosing between Cassandra Lomax, who appears on the ballot as Sann Lomax, and Ellen Earle Leverett in a special election.
The seat opened up after Faye Thomas, its last occupant, won the race for mayor. The person elected next week will serve out the two years left on that term.
Both candidates filed for the seat on Aug. 14 and are running without party labels, according to state election filings. The special election runs alongside the statewide general election, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Lomax brings a background in election work. She started volunteering with the voter registration office in Abbeville in 2012, then spent a decade on staff at the McCormick County voter registration office, from 2013 until she retired in 2023. For six months of that time she served as interim director, teaching classes for poll managers and supervising them. She has also worked as a hairstylist, run her own business and served as a notary.
In written answers to questions about her campaign, Lomax listed affordable housing, the condition of neighborhoods, access to groceries and other everyday services, and economic growth as the issues she sees as most pressing for the city.
On housing, she said she would look at programs and partnerships that could lead to safe homes people can afford. On neighborhoods, she pledged to hear residents out on drainage, maintenance and property upkeep. To bring in stores and jobs, she wants the city to learn what businesses need before they will open or expand in Abbeville.
Lomax said she expects council members to hear out different points of view, explain their votes in plain terms, spend public money with care and keep working together after disagreements. She also wants City Hall to tell residents more clearly which problems the city can fix itself, which need outside help and how much progress is being made.
The hardest part of the job, in her view, is stretching limited money and staff to meet residents’ needs while keeping public trust. She described the city as changing and said it has to protect its history and character while still serving the people who live there.
Abbeville sits about 20 miles west of Greenwood by way of SC-72, and the city of Abbeville holds its regular general election the same day.
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