HEMBY BRIDGE -- Rodney Mullis and Kevin Pressley will replace Jim Simpson and John Miller as Hemby Bridge aldermen.

The two winners were just one vote apart, with Mullis taking 143 votes and Pressley taking 142 — about 28 percent of the votes each.

Simpson received 118 votes; Miller, 106.

Simpson, along with other board members, watched election results in Union County Library’s Griffin Room in Monroe. He said if he doesn’t win, he still thanks his supporters. His fellow aldermen are “good guys to work with,” Simpson said, adding that he takes pride in his last four years as mayor.

The town built its Town Hall and renovated its old Volunteer Fire Department into a community center since Simpson was elected and then appointed as mayor. Each term, Hemby’s aldermen appoint one of their members as mayor.

“If I lose, I can still hold my head up high,” Miller said. He would like to keep serving his community on the board, he said, but a loss means “more time at the beach.”

Pressley previously served as the town’s first mayor, as well as Union County commissioner; he said he wanted to take the town back to its initial principals of remaining rural. “We’re very excited about getting a chance to turn the town back around to the way it was when we started,” he said.

Mullis could not be reached for comment.