COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The historic South Carolina city of Charleston has elected its first Republican mayor since the Reconstruction Era. William Cogswell, formerly a Republican state lawmaker, defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor John Tecklenburg by about 2 percentage points in Tuesday's runoff, according to the South Carolina Election Commission. Political Cartoons View All 1262 ImagesCharleston last elected a Republican mayor in the 1870s, according to historical records from the city and other municipal areas. “We can confidently say that I’m going to be the next mayor,” Cogswell said Tuesday night, as final results came in. "When Mayor Cogswell succeeds, Charleston succeeds, and that's something we're all in favor of.”The City of Charleston has become the second reliably blue area in South Carolina — where Republicans dominate congressional and statewide politics — to choose a Republican mayor in recent years.

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Persons: William Cogswell, John Tecklenburg, Cogswell, Tecklenburg, Joe Biden, Sen Tim Scott, Drew McKissick, Russell Fry, ” Cogswell, Teckleburg, “, ”, —, Daniel Rickenmann, ___ Meg Kinnard Organizations: COLUMBIA, Republican, Democratic, South, GOP, Charleston, U.S . Rep, Republicans Locations: South Carolina, Charleston, Tuesday's, Charleston's, South, City, South Carolina —, South Carolina’s, Columbia