2 new faces to change balance on City Council

Columbia voters changed the political balance on City Council Tuesday, handing Mayor Steve Benjamin an election setback.

Retired municipal specialist Howard Duvall swept a runoff for a citywide council seat by a 2-to-1 landslide. Ed McDowell, Duvall’s campaign teammate, took council’s District 2 seat by 51 votes, according to preliminary results in the nonpartisan race.

Benjamin had endorsed newcomer Andy Smith in the at-large race and Richland 1 school board member Aaron Bishop in the race for District 2, which stretches from neighborhoods near Boozer Shopping Center, through the city center and south into Olympia.

“We didn’t dream that it would be this strong,” the 72-year-old Duvall said once uncertified totals were released by the Richland County Elections &Voter Registration office. “Putting two new members on council ... will certainly change the dynamics.”

In recent years, council established a pattern of making some important and big-ticket decisions by slim, sometimes one-vote margins in favor of Benjamin and his council allies. Duvall ran in part as an equalizer to Benjamin’s majority influence on the seven-member council.

Benjamin said he did not take the election as a rejection of his role on council. “Howard and Ed ran a stronger campaign and they won,” the mayor said.

McDowell, 66, said he and Duvall plan to work cooperatively. “This is not a stalemate in any way, form or fashion. We’re going to work together.”

McDowell and Bishop, both pastors, competed to replace Councilman Brian DeQuincey Newman, who did not seek re-election.

Duvall won the seat that had been held by Cameron Runyan, who placed third in the six-candidate Nov. 3 general election.

Turnout citywide was low. Only 9.6 percent of Columbia’s 78,040 registered voters cast ballots, the county elections office said. That means that 7,494 residents voted.

Duvall said his win and that of McDowell should lead to “more conversations before making decisions.” He added, “I think council will work better when all council members are included in the decision process.”

Asked if that implied some current members are excluded, Duvall said, “That might be a proper implication.”

Still, Duvall said he plans to reach out to and work with Benjamin, whom Duvall has described as a friend and someone with whom he often is in agreement.

In the Nov. 3 election as well as in the runoff, Duvall stressed his years of experience in working with South Carolina’s 270 cities and towns. He said that experience would allow him to quickly help the Capital City deal with the ravages of October’s historic floods.

Benjamin was not the only political force in the campaign.

Longtime former Councilman E.W. Cromartie’s name became a big part of the election after McDowell acknowledged Cromartie was an adviser and campaign contributor. Cromartie held the District 2 seat for 27 years until 2010 when he resigned, and was indicted and pleaded guilty to tax evasion and lying to federal investigators.

Benjamin linked Duvall to Cromartie by saying the mayor would stare down the “Duvall-Cromartie coalition,” a reference to McDowell’s ties to the former councilman.

For his part, Duvall characterized the mayor’s influence as the “Benjamin machine.”

Duvall transitioned from a retiree to a community activist to a candidate when he became a leader in a December 2013 campaign to block a change in Columbia’s form of government to a strong mayor, which would have made Benjamin the city’s most powerful mayor.

In the final days of the runoff campaign, Duvall drew the endorsements of Councilwoman Leona Plaugh, and former councilmen Daniel Rickenmann and Kirkman Finlay.

Smith, the director of Main Street’s Nickelodeon theater, had been endorsed by retired state Sen. Kay Patterson, former legislator and past president of the S.C. Bar I.S. Leevy Johnson and state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland.

Smith positioned himself as the fresh face in the race, offering new ideas about the future. He advocated building a “knowledge economy” that promoted start-up and technology businesses and listened more to Columbia’s innovators.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 6:20 PM.