Equity, coalition-building talk highlights Columbia Council women’s candidate forum
Though there is still more than a month to go before filing opens for this year’s Columbia City Council races, it’s already clear that women will be a force on the ballots.
Four seats are up for grabs this year — mayor, an at-large post, District 1 and District 4 — and, of the 11 hopefuls who have formally announced campaigns, six are women. They include Tameika Isaac Devine running for mayor; Heather Bauer, Dr. Aditi Bussells and Deitra Stover Matthews running for the at-large seat; and Tina Herbert and Christa Williams seeking the District 1 seat.
On Monday night, the South Carolina Democratic Women’s Council hosted a forum for the women seeking office in the capital city this year, and touched off a wide-ranging conversation on each of their candidacies. Themes of equity, communication, business and coalition-building ran throughout the forum.
Devine was first elected to a citywide Council seat in 2002, and is the only Black woman ever to have served on the body. During Monday’s forum, she said perhaps her top priority would be to make inroads in the relationships between Columbia and other area governments to help move the area forward.
“The first thing I would do upon taking office is to pull together our partners from Lexington County, from Richland County, from the University (of South Carolina), from Richland One, and bring them together to talk about equity within our city and our region, and how we all will take on a piece of that to move forward to an equitable community no matter where you live in this region,” Devine said.
Devine’s husband, Jamie Devine, is a longtime member of the Richland One school board.
Bauer is an IT professional and also owns Workhorse Fitness gym in Columbia. She said she recognizes challenges small businesses face and would work to help them thrive in the capital city.
“Small businesses drive our city,” Bauer said. “That means advocating for responsible development that puts investors and entrepreneurs in conversation, in partnership with the communities. We need to make city services more efficient and cut costs to make room for new investments.”
Bussells is a public health researcher with the Children’s Trust of South Carolina. She said she thinks her work in that realm, particularly in the last year during the global pandemic, has prepared her well to step into local government in the at-large city seat.
“I use data to help people make decisions,” she said. “In a time when there has been so much distrust and misinformation about COVID, and all of these other issues that are plaguing our communities, I help build the story to make it easier for people to understand what they need to do, how they can keep their families safe, and, most importantly, what decisions need to be made that are equitable and prosperous for the community around them.
“It’s those same skills that I’m super excited to bring on to city council.”
Matthews is a Columbia native and government relations manager for the Conservation Voters of South Carolina. She said during the women’s forum that she would work to ensure “all voices are heard and amplified.”
“One of the first things I would do is fight for the city council to do an equity community assessment,” Matthews said. “It would be an assessment that is shared with stakeholders across the city of Columbia. And when I say stakeholders, I’m not just talking about industry or manufacturers. I’m talking about residents in Columbia, South Carolina.”
Herbert is an attorney with the Mickle & Bass firm. She previously worked for a number of years as the director of the Office of Business Opportunities at the city, where she worked to reduce barriers for small, minority and women-owned businesses.
She said she would work to address food insecurities in District 1 and other areas of Columbia, including the exploration of establishing a food cooperative, which is, in essence, a grocery store owned by members of the community and people who shop there.
“I can’t go into a meeting where I don’t hear ‘How and when can we get another grocery store?’” Herbert said. “I think the food cooperative model is very, very viable. We’ve done the research and we’ve done the studies. It’s almost a package that we could pick up and start running with.”
Williams, who heads a nonprofit on rural voter engagement, works for the state Department of Corrections and is a member of the SC Army National Guard, is seeking office for the first time. She said she understands the needs of the working class and will fight for the residents of District 1, a mostly African American district in North Columbia.
“Civic engagement is a big part of getting things done,” Williams said. “Getting out there and talking to your representatives when you want to get things done. I want to bring those things to the table and close that gap of communication between community members and (city council) members, to bring a complete picture of trying to resolve and promote change in District 1.”
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 1:50 PM.
