COLUMBIA, S.C. — Municipal Election Day is a week away, with several local seats up for grabs, including Columbia City Council District 3.
The race is between incumbent Will Brennan and former City Council Member Moe Baddourah. They each have reasons why they are running including public safety and infrastructure.
“I am running for city council for a lot of reasons," Baddourah said. Number one, public safety is important to me. You know, I’ve noticed a lot of the crime rate has increased in the past few years and not only that, but we’re still struggling trying to hire police officers.”
“You know, when we won in 2019, we ran on a platform of the best quality of life for everyone, everything that goes into that," Brennan said. "You know, with community safety infrastructure investments, opportunities for all economic development.”
With these issues top mind, each of them says they have specific areas they plan to tackle in the next four years if they win on Tuesday.
“To continue our investment in our people, to our police department, our fire department ... really give Chief Holbrook and Chief Jenkins the tools, the funding they need to retain and recruit talent,” Brennan said.
“Things have changed, and we have to adapt to the change," Baddourah said. "We have to come up with new ideas and new ways to solve the ideas like the homeless, like recruiting officers, like fixing our streets and water and sewers, fixing or roads and potholes. It’s just a basic quality of life.”
Early voting for the municipal election ends on Friday. Election day is Tuesday, November 7.