Charleston, South Carolina, elects its first Republican mayor since Reconstruction Era

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The historic South Carolina city of Charleston has elected its first Republican mayor since the Reconstruction Era. Results from the South Carolina Election Commission show William Cogswell defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor John Tecklenburg by about 2 percentage points in Tuesday’s runoff. Charleston’s municipal elections are technically nonpartisan. But Tecklenburg is a well-known figure in the state’s Democratic politics, endorsing Joe Biden in South Carolina’s pivotal 2020 presidential primary. Cogswell, who served three terms as a Republican in the state House and describes himself as a moderate, earned endorsements from others within South Carolina’s GOP political circles, including Sen Tim Scott. Charleston last elected a Republican mayor in the 1870s.