After 35 years on Richland Co. Council, Paul Livingston won’t run for re-election
After more than four decades in elected office, Richland County Councilman Paul Livingston will step down from the county’s governing board at the end of this year when his term expires. The 35-year veteran of Richland County Council represents the area encompassing a portion of Elmwood Avenue and the North Main corridor. He has lived in Elmwood Park since childhood.
Livingston, now 75 years old, started his career in public office at 32. The first in his family of 13 children to receive a college degree, he “got enthusiastic about education,” early on, he recalled. That led him to the Richland One school board, where he ran for and won a seat in 1984.
Six years later, over frustrations with the county’s role in the school districts’ budget, Livingston ran for and won a seat on Richland County Council. That was in 1990.
Livingston has sat on the council long enough to see Richland County and the city of Columbia evolve. He’s seen victories and controversies, and has had a hand in some of the largest economic development deals in Midlands history.
The longtime public servant said it’s emotional to be stepping down, “but I’m confident that it’s time.”
Council “visionary” reflects on career
Livingston said that he sees himself as the county’s “visionary.” And with a career that spans decades, he’s seen that envisioning pay off in multiple ways.
He championed neighborhood improvement projects in his district’s neighborhoods, helped lead a $54 million streetscape project that transformed North Main Street, of which more than $34 million came from the Richland County penny tax. And among his proudest achievements has been reshaping how Richland County attracts new industries.
“I like to look at patterns and trends and plan accordingly,” Livingston said. “Visionaries don’t get immediate gratification … so I’m always looking out front.”
That long-range thinking took shape early in Livingston’s public career.
At 32, while teaching psychology at Midlands Technical College and raising a young family, Livingston ran for a seat on the Richland 1 school board. He advocated for mandatory kindergarten, teacher raises, and better facilities, including throwing his support behind a sweeping plan to add air conditioning to every school. It was the budgeting process for the school district that ultimately led him to consider leaving the board of trustees for Richland County Council.
“We’d spend four or five months on the (district) budget, and go to County Council, and they’d go, ‘Well, you need to cut this or that,’ Livingston said.
Later, after winning election to County Council in 1990, he realized there were bigger issues behind the scenes. It wasn’t just the school board’s budget being scrutinized, it was every dollar.
“That’s when I decided, well then, we need to figure out a way to get more money,” Livingston said.
That launched his passion for thinking about jobs and how to get more of them in the Midlands. When he first joined the council, Richland County didn’t have a dedicated economic development department. He spearheaded the effort to create one, and later became the chairman of the council’s economic development committee.
Livingston has had a hand in some of the biggest deals in the county’s history. He’s traveled to China to meet with executives of China Jushi before the development of a fiberglass plant in the Pineview Industrial Park, he along with fellow leaders went to New Jersey to attract Bell Atlantic, now Verizon, which in 1999 built a call center in the now-demolished Richland Mall. He joined a cadre of dignitaries who travelled to Germany in the 1990s to meet with Siemens, an automotive supplier that later set up shop in the Columbia area as well. And he’s been a vocal proponent of Scout Motors’ new electric vehicle plant in Blythewood.
Another point of pride for the longtime public servant, he said, are initiatives that allowed the county to collaborate with Lexington County and the city of Columbia. Those projects include the development of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, and the ongoing development of the River Alliance’s Three Rivers Greenway.
Navigating victories and controversy
In his first election, the ‘84 school board race, Livingston survived a 13-person Democratic primary, a computer-caused ballot mishap and a 4-hour recount, all before he ever officially took office.
Over 35 years, Livingston has been a party to big wins for the county, but also moments of political theater, and significant controversies.
He was a member of council during a tumultuous lawsuit with the Department of Revenue over the county’s stewardship of the first penny transportation tax. That case went all the way to the state Supreme Court and the county in 2021 agreed to pay back $15.5 million of improperly-spent dollars to the transportation fund.
During a particularly fraught, 7-hour budget debate in the late 90s, one of Livingston’s Republican colleagues on the council called him a “silly little fool” over a spending disagreement. That council member, Steve Morris, later apologized for the comment and the council passed the budget in a vote just before 2 a.m., according to news reports from the time.
Now, after more than three decades, Livingston said he can look back on the good and the difficult and feel proud of having a hand in guiding Richland County and the city of Columbia toward how they look today. He couldn’t name one proudest moment, but said his work to collaborate across the Midlands has been among them.
Livingston told The State that he doesn’t have a specific successor in mind, though “I probably wouldn’t tell you that now anyway,” he said with a laugh.
Whoever does fill Livingston’s shoes on council, he hopes they prioritize areas of his district that still need attention, like the Broad River Road corridor.
But Livingston isn’t planning to phone it in for his last 10 months, either. He wants to help lay the foundation for more workforce training, coordinate with high schools and colleges, and ensure there are training opportunities for anyone who wants a job in Richland County.
Recently, the county helped launch a $5 million workforce training center in northeast Columbia. That center is currently being used by Scout Motors, but leaders say it will also help attract new industries to the county.
When he does step down at the end of this year, Livingston plans to shift his attention toward developing more senior resources.
“I think I have [lived up to expectations], and that’s not based on my perception, just the feedback I get from folks I know and work with,” Livingston said. How does he want his legacy remembered? “Someone who is reliable, dependable and made an effort to make a difference.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
