In Columbia, South Carolina, a city that Biden won in 2020 with a wide margin, a Republican candidate just won the race for mayor over a Democrat who had Obama’s blessing. Is this more evidence of a coming red wave? It sure looks that way.
Endorsements from former President Obama and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn in reliably blue Columbia, South Carolina, were not enough to push the city’s Democratic mayoral candidate over the finish line.
Republican Daniel Rickenmann, a businessman and Columbia city council member, defeated Democrat Tameika Isaac Devine 52% to 48% on Tuesday night in Columbia, which sits in a county that President Biden carried by almost 40 points in 2020.
Obama, according to Washington Free Beacon, released an audio message in support of Devine. The former president carried the city’s county by 29 points in 2008 and 33 points in 2012.
Clyburn, one of the most prominent Democrats in both the South and the Black community, who many believe saved President Biden’s flailing 2020 campaign with his endorsement, also endorsed Devine.
Columbia has been so reliably blue over the last several years that Republicans didn’t put forth a challenger to Rickenmann’s Democratic predecessor, Mayor Stephen Benjamin.
Poster Comment:
Columbia is 42% White.