Letter: Merchant can lead our city to a bright future

In a crowded mayoral race, there are candidates, and then there is a candidate that stands out in comparison to everyone else.

David Merchant is a candidate that stands out for all the right reasons. As a businessperson, I evaluate and appraise my company and competition on strengths and weaknesses. David is strong in every category required to lead our city into a bright future. Our city government, to include our current mayor, have made great strides in improving our quality of life, and under David's leadership, we will continue to be successful. I feel like today it's imperative that we all examine the character of anyone running for office.

I have known David for more than 25 years and can testify that he is a man of faith, a family man, a successful business owner, is active in the community and has the experience in working with our local government and delegation as a city councilman. He is a person that is willing to work tirelessly in representing our community as a whole for the betterment of Sumter. To provide more insight on the type of person David is, recently my family was experiencing a difficult and challenging situation, and he reached out to us immediately. Although he was busy with work and his own family, he stopped what he was doing and came over to pray for us. This is my personal experience, but he would do this for anyone in this community because he is selfless and cares for all. I am proud to call him my friend, and I am proud that he is running for mayor.

I encourage everyone to get out and vote, and I also encourage everyone to do their homework and vote for the candidate that is strong in every requirement needed to lead us as a community in the right direction. David has my vote, and I hope you strongly consider giving him your vote as well on election day.

CARY COKER

President, Nu Idea