Askins is GOP’s nominee for County Council seat
By Bobby Bryant, Editor
A GOP primary election Tuesday knocked Robbin Brock out of the race for an open Hartsville-area seat on Darlington County Council, setting up a June special election between Kirk Askins and Democrat Yovonda Price-Mack. Askins, of Hartsville, won the Republican nomination for the seat vacated Feb. 1 by Lewis Brown. Unofficial results say Askins got 396 votes to Brock’s 95. Price-Mack is the only Democrat to file, so no Democratic primary was needed. Brown, who was council’s vice chairman, resigned because he’d been offered a job opportunity that, he said, would conflict with his council duties. He is now Darlington County’s director of economic development. Askins is owner of MKA Mechanical, a heating and air-conditioning company. This is his first run for elected office. “The more I got to thinking about it, I’m at the point in my life where I’m almost an ‘empty-nester,’” Askins told the News & Press earlier. He was looking for a new challenge and decided to go for County Council. Brock, of the Pine Ridge area, said he had held this council seat from 2012-16. “I served as the Emergency Management Director for Darlington County for many years,” Brock said earlier. “Because of this, and the fact that my father was a founding member of the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad where my entire family has served, emergency services are close to my heart. I will work every day to make sure that Darlington County has the best emergency services possible.”
