Meet Ben
A Common Sense Conservative
Ben was born in Camden, South Carolina where he attended public school before his family moved to Lugoff when he was in third grade. He graduated from Lugoff-Elgin High School where he was a four-time State Champion wrestler, National Champion heavyweight wrestler, an Academic All-American, member of three State Championship wrestling teams, an All-State football player, and Shrine Bowl starter for the State of South Carolina. He also became a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and received the Dave Schultz National Excellence Award.
Following high school, Ben performed two years of volunteer missionary service for the Church of Jesus Christ. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he double majored in Business and Economics and received a full wrestling scholarship. As an undergraduate, Ben served as a wrestling team captain, academic team captain, was a member of two ACC Championship wrestling teams, received the Kehaya Leadership Award, and received the Jimmy Garrell Award at the Kenan-Flagler Business School for community service. He also served as the Vice President of the undergraduate student body at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. After graduation, Ben attended the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, NC where he received the Gressman-Pollitt Award for best overall oral advocate. He also received the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Memorial Scholarship and an honor certificate for the highest grade in Legal Writing and Oral Advocacy. After law school, Ben worked for the largest law firm in the state of South Carolina where he represented numerous small businesses and Fortune 500 companies in various litigation and contractual matters.
Today, Ben is proud to represent and defend "the little guy" each day in his work. In Kershaw County, Ben represents several small businesses, individuals and families who have experienced the death of a loved one or life-altering injuries. He fights against insurance companies to make sure his clients are treated fairly. He also fights against drunk drivers to increase safety in the community. Ben is always ready to fight for his clients and protect their interests and he is grateful for the opportunity to provide legal services for the entire Kershaw County community.
Ben furthered his common sense conservative approach to small business while running his own law firm and multiple other businesses, including real estate investments, agriculture, and blow-molded plastic manufacturing ventures.
Ben cherishes family time and is married to his beautiful wife, Kristin. They have three wonderful children, Annabelle, Alexis, and Bennett. Kristin graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with departmental honors and is a certified Master Gardner in South Carolina. The family works together to operate a small farm in Lugoff and they find immense joy in working the land and raising animals.
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Ben has represented the Elgin area on Kershaw County Council since 2016.
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Community Involvement:
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Advisory Board member for MUSC Health Kershaw
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Board Member, Kershaw County Education Foundation
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SC Bar Young Lawyer Division Star of the Quarter 2016
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Past President, Kershaw County Bar
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Past Board Member, Kershaw County Fine Arts Center
Key Accomplishments on County Council
While serving on Kershaw County council, Ben led or partnered with his fellow council members to achieve several Kershaw County milestones. For example, they moved solid waste handling in-house, pivoting away from private contractors, and as a result, they cut recurring costs by at least $1 million per year. They reduced capital costs on a chemical lab project from a proposed bid of $1.436 million to a final bid price of $616,000 by reevaluating the project and moving away from federal bonds that did not have favorable terms. They implemented a vehicle fleet maintenance and repair program, which continues to save Kershaw County citizens at least $300,000 per year.
They improved the quality of life in Kershaw County by adding ball fields at the West Wateree Sports Complex and adding a new walking track and new lighting. They partnered with the charitable PLAY Foundation to provide a playground at the West Wateree Complex which was paid for by private donations. They also partnered with PLAY to provide one of the Midland's only Americans with Disabilities Act certified playgrounds located in Camden. Kershaw County also partnered with the City of Camden to build the County’s first ever splash pad in the area next to the Aquatic Center.
Ben helped lead the effort to secure a $275,000 grant for the first-ever Kershaw County park in the Elgin area, located around a beautiful pond the county owns across from MUSC Health Elgin Urgent Care. In addition, he helped obtain over $400,000.00 of private donations in land, equipment, fencing, irrigation, and technology for a turn-key public dog park in Lugoff.
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Kershaw County obtained the Wateree River Veterans Park using funds restricted by state law to improve and attract tourism. The River Park has become avery popular site for the annual Yak the River event, several outdoor movie nights, the Touch-A-Truck event, among many others. Additionally, that site just had the longest-running Christmas celebration in county history with the lighted Tinsel Trail throughout the holiday season.
Ben also focused on improving public safety by supporting law enforcement. Kershaw County took over and funded EMS, updated the fleet of vehicles, updated equipment, built three new EMS stations throughout the county, and they are currently working on the fourth EMS station to reduce response times and improve care.
They fought crime by increasing the Sheriff's budget for vehicles, equipment, and staffing by a greater percentage than any other department in the county over the last four years. To keep up with our growing population and the increase in service calls, they transitioned from a professional volunteer fire service to a full-time professional fire service providing 24/7 coverage throughout the county at the lowest cost per capita for any full-time fire service in the county.
Kershaw County has had substantial activity in economic development recently, with multiple companies coming to or expanding locally. Partnering with the Kershaw County School District and the technical college system, the County Council co-located Central Carolina Technical College's campus, the Woolard Technology Center, the Kershaw County Economic Development office and the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce, all at one site in Camden near I-20. This joint campus makes Kershaw County attractive in so many ways. They also provided a way for Kershaw County high school graduates to attend Central Carolina tuition-free if they maintained a satisfactory grade point average in high school.
Other recent accomplishments include cutting the overall tax rate by half a mil last year and upgrading our public works facilities and equipment to improve county-maintained roads. As shown by his track record, Ben will listen and work tirelessly to make sure Kershaw County continues to be a great place to live, work, worship, and raise a family.
