DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Sam Richardson defeated opponent Charles Frederick in Tuesday’s race for Dorchester County sheriff. Voters cast their ballots and decided to give the chief deputy a promotion. It comes as longtime sheriff L.C. Knight plans on retiring. A watch party was held at Summerville Country Club where sheriff-elect Richardson took the stage to a roar from supporters. Richardson spoke earlier on the say about how he worked his way up from a patrol deputy to eventually becoming chief deputy under Sheriff Knight, who trained him to become his replacement. He told the crowd he wanted to be the number one sheriff’s office in South Carolina. “Listen, you can’t strive to be number two or number three. You want to strive to be number one. So, you put things in place to be number one. You want to be the best you can be,” he said. Richardson said he is looking forward to working with the deputies to make sure they have the equipment and training needed to stay safe, while also working with citizens to implement community programs. The sheriff-elect will be sworn in during the first week of January.