Plaugh endorses Duvall in Columbia’s at-large runoff race

Columbia city councilwoman Leona Plaugh on Friday endorsed Howard Duvall for the at-large council seat runoff election.

In a news release, Plaugh said Duvall “is the most experienced candidate and the person who will help return fiscal accountability to Columbia.”

Columbia voters go to the polls on Tuesday to choose between the two top vote-getters in the Nov. 2 election for a citywide council seat.

The 72-year-old longtime municipal adviser, Howard Duvall, got 3,440 votes, or 38.5 percent of votes cast, followed by the director of the Nickelodeon theater and political newcomer, Andy Smith, 36, who received 2,313 votes, or 26 percent.

Duvall has billed himself as an independent voice who “might put the brakes on the undebated projects that the mayor brings up.”

The 36-year-old Smith has positioned himself as the voice of Columbia’s future.

Also on the ballot Tuesday are the Revs. Ed McDowell Jr. and Aaron Bishop, who are contending for the open District 2 council seat.

Plaugh represents the fiscally conservative District 4, which stretches from the homes around Dreher High School to the neighborhoods behind the VA hospital off Garners Ferry Road.