After more than 20 years of service to Laurens County, former County Council chairman Jim Coleman is being replaced by newcomer Stewart Jones as the new County Council Representative for Laurens County District Four.

“I’m honored to have served the people of Laurens County,” Coleman said. “We’ve made a lot of progress.”

Coleman went on to say that there are still a lot of good people on the County Council and he hopes that they can keep the trend of progress moving forward.

“The team’s still in place [so] we’ll be ok,” Coleman said.

Coleman conceded to Jones around 8:30pm on Tuesday night, with eight precincts still yet to report in their numbers.

“I’ve given my life to it [County Council] for 20 years,” Coleman said. “Now it’s time for somebody else to take over the reins.”

Jones was ahead the whole night, taking the lead from the first precinct report.

This will be Jones’ first government official position at any level, though he has been involved with politics for years, most recently with the Laurens County Tea Party.

As Councilman, Jones says that he plans to increase government transparency and fiscal responsibility.

“The people of Laurens County District 4 are my first concern,” Jones said. “It is important for the citizens of Laurens County to be aware of the workings of our local government that ultimately affect them.”

Jones beat out Coleman for District Four Representative, 1,555 votes to 1,100. Click here to see votes by precinct.

Originally appeared in GoLaurens.com