Incumbent Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg is set to meet challenger William Cogswell in the final debate Thursday night before the runoff election set for Nov. 21.
The candidates were forced into a runoff election after the results from the general election showed Cogswell with 36% of the vote (11,164 votes) and Tecklenburg with 32% (9,936), both falling short of the 50% needed to be declared the winner. The remaining third of the vote was split between four other challengers.
Thursday’s runoff debate will be hosted at 8 p.m. live by WCBD TV news anchor Brendan Clark and moderated by news anchors Carolyn Myrray and Riley Benson, who will pose questions focused on current issues like flooding, crime and development. Clark will then host a post-debate special, breaking down the candidates’ reactions live.
Thursday’s debate follows a Monday night debate in which Tecklenburg noted his leadership mission hasn’t changed over the last eight years: “For Charleston to be the very best place to raise a family, to live, to work, to play, to thrive with opportunities for all of our citizens and for generations to come/ So the things we have to continue to work on: number one is keep this city safe.”
Meanwhile, Cogswell went on the attack, accusing Tecklenburg of “doing a lot of lying” in his campaign.
“Leadership is showing people a positive path forward and making sure that when people say untruthful things, that they’re called out on it, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said. “I want to do that and make sure that the citizens of Charleston know the type of person that they’re talking about bringing in for another four more years.”
In other recent headlines:
CP NEWS: PechaKucha 44 lands Nov. 29 at Charleston Music Hall. A high-flying alien in a space saucer zips by the moon in award-winning cartoonist Steve Stegelin’s latest poster for PechaKucha 44. This latest installment of show and tell for Charleston’s creative class is set for 8 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Charleston Music Hall.
CP NEWS: Charleston Wine + Food celebrates community members with awards. Toiling in the food and beverage industry is often a thankless task. Charleston Wine + Food Festival wants to change that by recognizing those whose contributions have made an impact with the Community Impact Awards.
CCSD again overhauls Health Advisory Committee. Following criticism, the Charleston school board revisited its decision to dismantle much of the district’s Health Advisory Committee.
Charleston police apply recommendations from racial bias audit. A third-party progress assessment on how well the Charleston Police Department implemented the recommendations of the 2019 Racial Bias Audit was released Tuesday.
Local shrimpers join national fight against import dumping. S.C. shrimpers on Nov. 15 will represent the state’s shrimping industry in a virtual conference that may kick off an investigation into frozen warm-water shrimp imports.
Charleston County Council considering changes to tree ordinance. Charleston County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss which government body approves requests from the Public Works Department to remove large trees.
Proposed Johns Island development has neighbors worried. The Charleston County Planning Commission is reviewing a proposal Monday to rezone 17 acres from residential into a planned medical village on John’s Island.
S.C. civil rights leaders join call for Brown v. Board name change. Civil Rights protestors have joined a Kershaw County lawyer in filing a petition calling on the Supreme Court to acknowledge the SC lawsuit that spurred school integration, the first of four cases filed that became Brown v. Board of Education.
- To get dozens of South Carolina news stories every business day, contact the folks at SC Clips.
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