My name is Casey Hancock, and I want to serve as your next mayor of Hartsville.

If you know me, you might be surprised.

You see, I am an introvert. I’d rather be listening at the back of the room than talking in the front. I don’t follow the “sport” of politics — which Washington bureaucrat said what to whom, when, etc. I don’t even like politics. At least not the horse race kind that’s breathlessly covered by cable news 24/7. But I do closely follow and regularly engage with our local government, the one I aim to lead.

Probably no one is more surprised I’m running for mayor than I am. (Except maybe my mom.)

So why did I decide to run for mayor?

I’m running because I love my hometown, and I believe we’ve come too far in recent years to risk unraveling our progress. Hartsville has grown and accomplished much under the leadership of our City Council. I’m proud to have held a number of community service roles over the years. One lesson I’ve learned in observing local government up-close is how important it is for the only at-large member of city council, the mayor, to be a uniter and not a divider.

I want to serve as a voice for all Hartsvillians. I pledge to keep up the tireless work ethic and spirit of service in the mayor’s office and council chambers as a whole that we’ve enjoyed for the last decade. We’ve made great strides, but there’s still much work to be done to realize Hartsville’s full potential. We can only get there by working together.

It bears mentioning that I’m only interested in this job: Serving the people of Hartsville as mayor. I will not run for the next vacant office higher up the political food chain. I’m not a political guy. I’m a Hartsville guy.

My background

Talking about myself isn’t my favorite thing, so thank you for bearing with me as I share a little about the relevant experience I’ll bring to the mayor’s office.

This won’t be my first job serving the people of Hartsville. I spent my teen years working as a clerk at Gardner’s “feed and seed” store, opened by my grandfather Harrell L. Gardner in 1955 and later run by my dad, Keith Hancock. My grandfather and my dad taught me to treat all customers with respect — from the itinerant man who only ever bought coal, chicken feed, and vegetable seeds, to the matriarch of one of Hartsville’s most prominent families, who announced her arrival and desire to be served by driving up to the door and honking her car horn until someone came outside to wait on her!

When I graduated from Clemson University in 2006, I moved back home and accepted a job at Sonoco Products Company. I served Sonoco as a lab technician, and later, research and development chemist for ten years. Bitten by the same entrepreneurial bug as my dad and grandfather, I left Sonoco to start my own firm as a technology consultant, a business I still operate today. And last year, with a team of amazing friends, Hartsville’s first brewery and brick oven pizza joint was brought to fruition in the same building that was once home to my grandfather’s store.

I won’t bore you by rattling off all of my community service roles, but they’re listed below. I’m happiest and most fulfilled when I’m using my God-given abilities for a worthy cause, and I hope my record of service is a testament to that.

Thank you for your consideration, and I humbly ask for your vote for Mayor of Hartsville on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021.

Cheers,

Casey G. Hancock