GOP defeats Obama-endorsed candidate in deep blue city that Biden won handily in 2020
11/17/2021, 4:34:24 PM · by Robwin · 9 replies
Fox News ^ | 11/17/21 | Andrew Miller
An endorsement from former President Obama and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn in reliably blue Columbia, South Carolina was not enough to push the city’s Democratic mayoral candidate over the finish line.
Republican mayoral candidate Daniel Rickenmann, a businessman and Columbia city council member, defeated Democrat Tameika Isaac Devine by a margin of 52% to 48% on Tuesday night in Columbia which sits in a county that President Biden carried by almost 40 points in 2020.
Former President Obama, according to Washington Free Beacon, released an audio message in support of Devine and the former president carried the city’s county by...
Obama, Ntl Democrats Fail To Deliver Win in Blue City’s Mayoral Race
“Red wave is bigger than ever, and we eagerly expect to continue beating Democrats,” says GOP
washingtonfreebeacon ^ | 11/17/2021
Posted on 11/17/2021, 4:26:39 PM by devane617
Daniel Rickenmann, a Republican businessman, on Tuesday defeated Democratic attorney Tameika Isaac Devine by 4 points to become Columbia’s next mayor. A slew of prominent national Democrats, including Obama, Clyburn, and Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison, backed Devine in the race.
The result shows that Democrats’ plummeting popularity extends even to areas the party has historically dominated. Obama, who in a Monday audio message urged Columbia voters to “make history again by showing up for Tameika Isaac Devine,” won the city’s county by 29 points in 2008 and 33 points in 2012. Clyburn, meanwhile, resides in Columbia and has represented major portions of the city since 1993. The Democrat secured reelection by nearly 38 points in 2020. Just four years ago, Republicans did not challenge Rickenmann’s predecessor, Democratic mayor Stephen Benjamin.
Following Rickenmann’s win, South Carolina GOP chairman Drew McKissick said it’s “safe to say the red wave is bigger than ever, and we eagerly expect to continue beating Democrats across South Carolina in 2022.”