COLUMBIA, S.C. — Municipal Election Day is Tuesday, November 7, and Columbia City Council has two seats up for grabs.
Three candidates are running for the at-large district on council seat after Howard Duvall announced his plans for retirement earlier this year.
Tyler Bailey, Jesse Bullard and Christa William are running for the seat.
"I’ve seen some good changes, I’ve seen some bad changes, and I think where Columbia is right now is a pivotal moment where we need to make sure council is still looking out for people, neighborhoods and quality of life issues," Tyler Bailey said.
“I believe in the future of our city," Jesse Bullard said. "I think we’ve got a lot of positive stuff going on right now in our community, and I’m looking forward to being a part of it."
“I want to be a representative for the every day person, child, veterans, small business owners, the every day person and the future of our city." Christa Williams said.
There are three issues these candidates are looking to address if they win on Tuesday: Public safety, economic development and housing.
“The biggest issue facing Columbia is our growing youth gun crime epidemic," Bailey said. "Supporting our law enforcement has always been addressed and it will continue to be addressed by the city council, but I think we need to look at more innovation to reach kids.”
"We’ve gotta continue to focus efforts on economic development and growing quality jobs, Bullard said. "That’s one of the things I’ve done in my career is built good-paying jobs for folks, so I’m excited to continue to work on some of those issues."
"Housing first. Housing is a very important piece of us as humanity. We have to invest more in incentivizing home ownership, ensuring that we have housing for our seniors, ensuring that we have housing for our families."
The polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.