Former Benjamin aide Sam Johnson is running for Columbia mayor
For six years, Sam Johnson got a first-hand look at the day-to-day business of the mayor of Columbia.
Now he’s taking his own shot at the city’s top political spot.
Johnson, who was a key aide to Mayor Steve Benjamin from 2010 to 2016 and is now a project consultant for NP Strategy public relations firm and an advisor at Nexsen Pruet law firm, told The State he will run for mayor this year. Benjamin, who has served for three terms, announced last week that he won’t seek re-election in 2021.
This year’s municipal elections are Nov. 2 and filing is likely to open in August.
The slate of mayoral candidates has wasted little time in becoming crowded. At-large Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine and District 4 Councilman Daniel Rickenmann have said they also are running for mayor.
Johnson, 33, is seeking elected office for the first time. But he thinks his time working in Benjamin’s office and experience in the city make him well-suited for the job.
“I have been uniquely involved,” he told The State. “In the mayor’s office, as an adviser of the mayor, I know the challenges that Columbia has been through in the last decade and I’ve helped craft policy and think strategically about how we deal with the challenges that are still before us.
“I just think I have a unique perspective that allows me to attempt to address those challenges.”
Johnson, a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, said there is much to be done in the days and years ahead in Columbia.
“The first thing the next mayor of Columbia has to be focused on is this pandemic,” he said. “There will be lingering effects and challenges that the pandemic leaves us with that we have to keep our eye on and we have to address the inequity that has been highlighted and exacerbated through this pandemic.”
As in many cities, COVID-19 has pounded the City of Columbia’s budget. The current year’s budget is projected to take in at least $20 million less in revenue than the previous year. The city also remains under a mask ordinance, many city buildings are closed to the public and council continues to meet virtually, rather than in-person at City Hall.
Johnson, a resident of the Elmwood Park neighborhood, says economic growth for the Capital City will also be among his top priorities.
“We’ve got to create a broader local economy,” he said. “We rely on hospitality and the university and some of the natural assets of our city. But we have to think broader and bigger on how we grow our local economy. Part of that is through tackling our tax structure. I think we have to think through local cooperation, and how we can move forward as a city, as a county and as school districts in one direction.”
Late last year, city council commissioned a sprawling property tax analysis that showed the Columbia area had the highest taxes in the state among large metros. The $25,000 study suggested it would take a collaborative effort among taxing entities — local school districts, the county, the city — to start to turn that around.
It will be intriguing to see who Benjamin, a popular third-term mayor, endorses in the mayoral race, if anyone. Of the candidates who have currently announced, Johnson has been a close aide and advisor, and Devine and Rickenmann have long been his council colleagues.
During a Feb. 5 news conference, Benjamin said he would likely make an endorsement in the race, but didn’t say who might receive that support.
“I want the candidates to be able to articulate their vision for the city,” Benjamin said. “I want to be able to observe the candidates sharing their ideas, to see their records in coalition-building and pulling people together. … I’m going to observe the candidates and as one emerges that I believe lines up with my worldview, which is inextricably intertwined with the health and future and prosperity of the city, then I could indeed endorse.”
