Herbkersman’s house swaps may raise questions in state house re-election bid

Long-time state representative Bill Herbkersman of Bluffton has filed for re-election even though he bought a house outside his district in 2021 and no longer owns the home he lived in when he last was elected.

Herbkersman sold his previous May River Road home in 2022 for $3.54 million. Two years before that, he paid $2.15 million for a home in the Myrtle Island neighborhood of Bluffton. Beaufort County property records show that Herbkersman then sold the new home in 2021 to his daughter Shelby for $10. That home is on land in the district of fellow Republican Weston Newton, who also lives in Myrtle Island.

South Carolina state law requires that legislators live in the district they represent on the day they file paperwork to run. Herbkersman’s filing paperwork shows he is claiming his residence as an apartment in Bluffton’s Promenade, in a building owned by his development company, State of Mind Street Partners.

In an interview with The Island Packet, Herbkersman confirmed the transactions and reaffirmed the Promenade apartment as his legal address and the Myrtle Island home as his daughter’s primary home. He said he keeps his cars at the Myrtle Island home because he does spend time there and is “redoing” the property for her.

Herbkersman’s decision to run again and his interpretation of the legality of his eligibility could become an election season issue for him and potentially draw legal challenges from opponents or other interested parties.

“My guess is that some challenger is considering whether or not they’re going to file a lawsuit and ask for a declaratory judgment on the issue of where this man, in fact, lives,” said John Crangle, a Columbia attorney and longtime government ethics watchdog.

Crangle said pursuing a case in the courts wouldn’t be cheap but noted that campaign money can be used to pay for litigation.

“You may have a party that put some money up,” he said. “You may have a political action committee that put some money behind them, (or) the candidate might have personal money.”

If an opponent were able to prove that Herbkersman had misrepresented the address of his primary residence, that would likely be the end of his political career, according to Crangle.

A check of Beaufort County property tax rolls shows Herbkersman’s car tax bill is being sent to the Myrtle Island address, but there is no rule that the address on record be his official residence. The rolls also show Shelby Herbkersman as the person responsible for tax payments on the home.

Herbkersman has mostly been unopposed when seeking re-election. Only three people have challenged him since 2008. Herbkersman beat former County Council member Mike Covert in the 2020 Republican primary with a little more than 60 percent of the vote, then went on to beat Democrat Mitchell Siegel in the general election.

Herbkersman’s District 118 encompasses central and western Bluffton as well as Sun City and parts of Okatie. Newton’s District 120 includes the rest of Bluffton, including Myrtle Island, a small portion of Jasper County and Habersham.