Benjamin faces December referendum as first challenge in second term
They danced, they cheered and they celebrated, but while their candidate cruised to a second term Tuesday, Mayor Steve Benjamin’s supporters had their sights on a bigger prize.
Their real fight — a referendum to establish a strong-mayor form of government — was yet to come.
“This is phase one,” U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told the crowd. “We’ve got to suit up again.”
Benjamin held a nearly 30-point margin — 64 percent to 36 — over challenger Moe Baddourah, with 95 percent of precincts reporting results.
Benjamin said the margin gives his campaign momentum headed toward the Dec. 3 referendum, which would give the mayor power over the city’s day-to-day operations. The issue has already become a sticking point among city leaders.
“I take this as a sign that people want strong, bold, positive leadership,” Benjamin said. “The people of Columbia are generally good people, are positive people — people who support seeing a vision over division.”
Benjamin said that he believes it is essential for the mayor to have power to hire and fire the police chief; Baddourah repeated throughout the campaign that he thinks Columbia needs to hire a permanent chief.
“We owe it to the people of Columbia to make sure they understand not just that we support the strong-mayor form of government, but that they fully understand why it’s important to have a mayor who wakes up in the morning thinking about how he can make this a better city and goes to bed at night thinking about how he can do just that,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin’s party packed the Sheraton Convention Center on Washington Street with supporters including Clyburn, former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges and former Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts. Even men’s basketball coach Frank Martin, Benjamin’s neighbor, showed up.
Clyburn called Benjamin a “very bold visionary.” Knotts praised his “ability to look forward and predict the future.” Both said they supported the strong-mayor push.
“There needs to be somebody that lays out a future and rallies people around it,” Clyburn said. “It’s kind of hard to have four or five different people come up with a vision.”
The mood was more somber at Andy’s Deli in Five Points, where Baddourah watched results come in with his family.
After conceding the race, Baddourah, a city councilman, said he looked forward to keeping his seat. He would need to sit down with his family to talk about his future in politics, he said.
Baddourah’s wife, Carrie, said she was proud of her husband despite the loss.
“He worked so hard,” she said. “If the election were based on hard work versus campaign dollars, he would definitely win.”
Baddourah said he hopes to make City Council work better and that he looks forward to working with Benjamin.
Benjamin said he expects his second term would see a focus on job creation and crime prevention in an effort to give the city’s young people more options. He also plans to promote mentoring and parks, he said.
He said the push would be “a serious focus on making sure that young people have real choices, that young men don’t have to choose between gangs and jail, that they have a chance to do the great things that God has in store for them.”
But for now, his campaign’s focus is set on December, and their fight isn’t over.
“I’m going to sleep in tomorrow morning,” Benjamin said. “But we’re getting right on the bandwagon … There’s work to be done.”