A North Augusta man upset the status quo and won a seat on city council Tuesday.
Dennis Briatico, known in the community as an animal activist and rescuer, was one of four contenders for only three at-large city council seats.
When the votes were tallied, Briatico garnered more votes than incumbent and fourth-place finisher Jenafer McCauley.
In the low-turnout election, longtime incumbent Pat Carpenter had the most votes with 1,397, followed by Robert Freitas with 1,356, Briatico with 1,345 and McCauley with 1,213.
Briatico ran as a Democrat against the incumbent council members, all Republicans, who campaigned as a group. But he said he didn’t make political party a focus of the campaign.
“I ran a very down-the-middle campaign and I tried to appeal to people over party,” he said at a Wednesday Democratic breakfast. “I put my community first when it came to issues. I talked to people, knocked on doors, made phone calls and answered questions. I did everything I could to answer everybody.”
Briatico said he avoided becoming a part of “conversations about extreme politics, either way,” while the Democratic Party “was proud to back me and supported my message of working-class politics.”
John M. Felak, who was running unopposed to complete the term of resigned council member Eric Presnell, received 1,592 votes.
In another twist, a write-in candidate garnered some 38% of the vote in the election for North Augusta mayor.
Local architect Richard Fletcher, the write-in candidate, won 774 votes, more than half the total won by incumbent Mayor Briton Williams.
Williams, first elected in 2021, received 1,329 votes and kept his seat.
