Seekings challenges mayor to debate; Tecklenburg “looks forward to it”

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston Councilman Mike Seekings is calling for a “public, televised debate broadcast throughout Charleston sometime in the next seven days" with Mayor John Tecklenburg.

The two are currently in a runoff election for Mayor after neither won a majority of votes during Tuesday’s election, as is required in this particular race.

In a press release, Seekings said one thing he and the Mayor both agree on is that there should be an open conversation about “the issues.”

Mayor Tecklenburg’s campaign manager, Devin Gosnell, told Live 5, “The Mayor looks forward to debating Mike, and holding him to his 10 year voting record on council.”

“It’s time to get serious about traffic, overdevelopment and flooding. In order to do that, we need a leader with serious proposals and funding strategies. That is why a majority of Charlestonians voted for a new direction in leadership yesterday, and that is what our campaign is about,” Seekings said.

Tuesday, Seekings questioned the strength of the Mayor’s support for the SCDOT project.

Wednesday, Mayor Tecklenburg held a press conference outside his West Ashley home, saying that he and his wife fully support the 526 completion project. “This shows a pattern of the Seekings campaign of being loose with the facts and flip flopping on the issues to be politically expedient.”

The runoff election will be November 19th.

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