Candidate teams face off in Columbia Council runoff Tuesday

The four candidates in Tuesday’s Columbia City Council runoff for two seats have been defined as competing teams, more so than individual candidates.

The dividing line has been whether the outcome will result in a council that leans toward Mayor Steve Benjamin or offsets his influence.

But the true test of the new council members chosen at the polls won’t be clear until a pattern of key votes occur on a body where important outcomes are determined by one-vote margins.

In the citywide race, retired Municipal Association of South Carolina executive director Howard Duvall is running on his decades of experience in working with the state’s 270 municipalities. Andy Smith, director of Main Street’s Nickelodeon Theatre and at 36 half Duvall’s age, is a newcomer who came in second with Benjamin’s backing in the Nov. 3 initial election.

Benjamin and Smith stress Duvall’s ties to convicted former councilman E.W. Cromartie through his running mate, District 2 candidate Ed McDowell Jr. Duvall and McDowell began running as a team when the mayor endorsed Smith and later District 2 contender Aaron Bishop.

Duvall recently has been highlighting Cromartie’s accomplishments in nearly three decades on council. McDowell has embraced political advice and campaign donations from Cromartie, who in 2010 was convicted of cheating on his federal taxes and lying to investigators about his actions.

Bishop, also a pastor, is stressing his experience as a Richland 1 School Board member.

The winners of Tuesday’s runoff will join District 3 Councilman Moe Baddourah, who was not on the ballots because he was unopposed.

All three take office Jan. 1 and serve until Dec. 31, 2019.

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 3:06 PM.