Columbia Mayor Benjamin says meeting with Trump went well

Columbia Mayor Stephen Benjamin is a die-hard Democrat, but he met Thursday with Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

Before the meeting at New York’s Trump Tower, Benjamin said he was hoping to find some common ground when he and three others from the U.S. Conference of Mayors met with Trump.

Afterward, Benjamin said the meeting went well, adding he had been able to accomplish what he had hoped to get done. He added he had the chance to spend "a good deal of time" with Vice-President-elect Mike Pence and "a little" with incoming Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Benjamin, who gave a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention where former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was nominated to oppose Trump, said Thursday’s meeting was a get-to-know each other session.

“We’re going in to talk about building great American cities,” Benjamin said before the meeting. “We’re going to talk about our focus on infrastructure, how that can transform cities and create jobs.”

Benjamin said Trump’s comments about rebuilding U.S. infrastructure match the hopes of mayors around the country.

“A trillion dollars … wow, that’s exciting,” he said. “We know that’s his stated plan. I’m excited to hear about his vision for it.”

In particular, Benjamin said he wanted to talk about how to pay for infrastructure projects. He said tax-exempt bonds are an important tool for cities.

“Maintaining the tax-exempt status on these bonds is key,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin, who will become the president of the mayors’ conference in 2017, met Trump along with mayors from Oklahoma City, New Orleans and Burnsville, Minn.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Columbia Mayor Benjamin says meeting with Trump went well."