BRACK: Tecklenburg has earned a second term

Tecklenburg, center, with his wife, Sandy.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  John Tecklenburg is Charleston’s only viable and reasonable choice for mayor Nov. 5 if the city wants to remain on the path to deal with flooding, traffic and more.

Over the last four years, he’s provided critical leadership to move us forward with dozens of infrastructure projects from stormwater and flooding improvements to new fire stations, improved and new parks, road improvements, affordable housing and community centers.

His list of accomplishments is long.  The only reason it isn’t even longer is because there’s a nasty cabal on city council that tries to block, obfuscate, intimidate and hinder progress.  Instead of working to create a positive future for Charleston, they simmer in pettiness, mud and divisiveness. They, not Tecklenburg, need to be replaced.

Four years ago, we believed Tecklenburg was the best man to lead Charleston.  We observed:

“He’s the kind of decent, service-focused leader our community needs for the post-Joe Riley era. There’s a lot to be said for common decency — for someone who is kind, generous with time and who listens. You don’t see it much these days in public officials, who often seem more obsessed about self and power than others and service.”

Tecklenburg is still the best person to lead Charleston.  Re-elect him Nov. 5.

TURNING TO THE NATIONAL SCENE, seasoned politicos are a bit taken aback by former Vice President Joe Biden’s strong numbers in a new Winthrop Poll in South Carolina, particularly among black Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters.

The poll showed he had support among almost half of African American Democrats — a big number in a huge field of Democrats running for president.  Among all Democratic registered voters and those who lean that way, the poll showed Biden was the pick of 37 percent of all South Carolina Democratic voters — more than 20 points higher than the next closest candidate, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.  And she was the only other candidate in double digits. Fifteen of 17 other candidates polled at less than 5 percent.

So what’s going on in the Palmetto State with Biden, particularly since polls in other early voting states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, show Warren neck-and-neck with the longtime frontrunner?

First, Biden is familiar to many in South Carolina.  Not only has he visited many times through the years, but he has had deep relationships with South Carolina leaders.  Second, he served as vice president for America’s first black president, a vitally crucial validator in South Carolina’s black community.  As President Obama’s number two, Biden has almost universal name recognition and a carry-over effect here, where the minority vote makes a real difference, compared to almost lily-white Iowa and New Hampshire.  Third, Biden is a moderate, which tends to be more appealing in South Carolina, a much more conservative state than other early voting states.  

But despite Biden’s popularity in the new Winthrop snapshot of voters, political waters are churning nationally with the mess involving impeachment and the inquiry of how Ukraine is involved with American politics.  

“He could be damaged from the impeachment inquiry and the negative publicity surrounding his son’s work in Ukraine,” said College of Charleston political scientist Gibbs Knotts.  “Our research indicated that African American candidates and Southern candidates were at an advantage in the South Carolina Democratic primary. [But] Biden is not African American or a Southerner.”

• To read more on the presidential race, see “Biden’s poll numbers don’t tell the whole story” in Statehouse Report.

Andy Brack’s latest book, “We Can Do Better, South Carolina,” is now available in paperback and for Kindle via Amazon.  

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