Benjamin among mayors who met with Biden, Harris
Columbia’s mayor was among a number of city leaders who met virtually on Nov. 23 with Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Third-term Mayor Steve Benjamin was part of a group of about four dozen mayors from across the country who participated in the video conference with Biden and Harris. The city leaders are a part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is a non-partisan group of mayors from cities of 30,000 or more people.
Benjamin is a past president of the national mayors’ group. He said the municipal officials were appreciative of the conversation with the president-elect. Biden outlasted Republican President Donald Trump in the contentious Nov. 3 election, though Trump has continued to challenge election results in some battleground states.
“It was a really powerful and encouraging conversation,” Benjamin said. “A bipartisan dialogue. Several mayors chimed in and had some thoughts and some questions for the president-elect and vice president-elect, and they ranged from the coronavirus and school openings and mental health to small business relief to wanting to foster a strong bipartisan relationship with the administration and America’s mayors on infrastructure.”
During the virtual gathering, Biden told the mayors that collaborating with them in the years going forward would be a priority.
“(The Nov. 23 meeting) is not a one-off meeting, it’s just a start,” Biden told the city leaders. “I promise you that. The Biden-Harris administration will have an open door for mayors. Our team is fully available to you. … Blue cities, red cities, it doesn’t matter. They’re all American cities, American communities that deserve the full support of an American president.”
Benjamin said he is hopeful that cities and the incoming administration will be able to work together to foster more federal investment in infrastructure in coming years. He thinks efforts to bolster the nation’s roads and bridges could put more people to work.
“I believe that, at least as it relates to infrastructure spending, we may be slipping into a little bit of a new normal where, specifically, folks see infrastructure spending as one of the key and most significant ways to get the economy back up and running in the most egalitarian way possible,” the mayor told The State.
“If (Biden and Harris) want to talk infrastructure, they are going to find Republican, Democratic and independent mayors at the table trying to push the conversation along.”
