Stony Rushing, chairman of the Union County Board of Commissioners, died Tuesday, the county said. He was 51.
In a statement, the county said he died after battling health issues for the past year. Rushing posted on social media in 2022 that he was beginning treatment for leukemia. In recent days, friends and supporters of Rushing posted that he was entering palliative care.
"We were hopeful he would make a full recovery, so this certainly is a difficult time," the commission and Rushing's family said in a joint statement.
Rushing, a Republican, served on the Union County board from 2002 to 2006, and again from 2014 to now. He ran unsuccessfully for the 9th District U.S. House of Representatives seat in 2019, after the election was thrown out by the state Board of Elections when operatives associated with original winner Mark Harris' campaign carried out an illegal ballot-harvesting scheme.
A firearms dealer by trade, Rushing was the owner of Take Aim Training Range and a firearms instructor. He is survived by his wife and two children.