Columbians embraced Steve Benjamin’s vision Tuesday, overwhelmingly electing the Capital City’s first black mayor on a message of balancing the budget without sacrificing the city’s public-safety priorities.
Benjamin, an attorney, defeated District 4 Councilman Kirkman Finlay, whose campaign was built around his warning that the city’s budget was in crisis and that the only way to save it was to shrink local government to a more manageable size.
But Benjamin promised city voters more than a balanced budget, and some voters were clinging to that promise Tuesday.
![](http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2010/04/20/22/a1benji.embedded.prod_affiliate.74.jpg)
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http://www.thestate.com/2010/04/20/1252713/steve-benjamin-wins.html#ixzz0lj1fIlNbIt was too long coming. However, at the height of racist Teaspitter uproar in the country, Steve Benjamin was elected as the Mayor of the capitol of SOUTH CAROLINA. This state is a never ending paradox.