WALHALLA — Reg Dexter was not resting on his laurels Wednesday, one day after upsetting two-term incumbent Frank Ables in the Republican primary race for the District 5 seat on Oconee County Council.

Long before the morning heat could set in, Florida transplant Dexter and his wife, Jamie, were busy driving through the district picking up his campaign signs. He won’t have to store them away for long, though. Next up for Dexter is a head-to-head meeting against Democratic Party opponent Richard Hughes on Nov. 4.

In trying to explain his improbable victory against Ables, a lifelong resident of Oconee County with deep roots in the district, the 63-year-old Dexter pointed at voter dissatisfaction with the state of Oconee government.

“I found when I was working with groups that people were still talking about (property tax) reassessment, and they were all upset,” Dexter said. “The second thing was the zoning enabling ordinance (ZEO). Those were the two biggest things for people in District 5.”

Wayne McCall, another newcomer on the local political scene, also pulled off a major upset by narrowly edging incumbent Tommy Crumpton in the District 2 council race.

With no Democratic challenger looming in the fall, McCall is guaranteed a seat on the council. He, too, credited voter resentment, particularly over reassessment, for his successful campaign.

“People just wanted change,” McCall said. “The voters were very resentful.”

Owner of McCall Welding and McCall Brothers Diving Inc., the 59-year-old businessman said he and his family could relate to the voters’ frustrations about the 2006 reassessment. McCall said he and his brothers split a hefty tax bill on his late mother’s estate. He said others less fortunate are losing homes to the delinquent tax office.

Joel Thrift, who handily bested Stan Smith in a District 4 Republican duel after incumbent Marion Lyles declined to seek re-election, said people are still mad about reassessment, especially now that the housing market is slumping.

“People want good government, and they want to be listened to,” Thrift said. “They’re the ones paying the bill and, as elected representatives, we need to listen.”

Thrift will now meet Democrat Bryan Jenkins who defeated John McDonald in their primary race.

The results of Tuesday’s primary mean that three new faces will join George Blanchard and Mario Suarez on Oconee County Council.

Crumpton, who came up short for the first time in an election after spending 13 years on the Walhalla City Council and one term on County Council, said he plans to stay active.

“I’m not closing it out,” Crumpton said. “I’m a firm believer in ‘never say never.’ I did the job to the best of my ability and never owed anybody any special favors.”

One incumbent who withstood a strong challenge is 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams. She won a second four-year term by handily besting Sarah Drawdy after a hard-fought campaign.

“I am tremendously honored by this big win,” Adams said. “It is rewarding for our great staff to see that taxpayers approve of the job we are doing.”

The Oconee County Voter Registration and Elections Board is meeting at 11 a.m. Thursday to review about 20 provisional ballots to decide whether they should be counted or not. People whose names were not on the registration list when they showed up to vote were allowed to mark a paper ballot.

No local races were close enough to be affected by these provisional ballots, but they could play a role in the automatic recount in the Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate between Bob Conley and Michael Cone. Conley squeaked past Cone by less than 1,000 votes with more than 146,000 votes cast. An automatic recount is required when a candidate wins by less than 1 percent of the total vote as is the case here, with Conley receiving 50.3 percent of the vote to Cone’s 49.7 percent.

The winner at the end of the recount goes on to face incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in the fall.

A total of 9,181 voters turned out in Oconee — 23.7 percent of the 38,711 registered voters.