If you thought a candidate for office who served for 23 years in the Summerville Police Department would make law and order his top legislative priority, you would be wrong.
Montez Aiken, who is running to oust incumbent Republican Harriet Holman from House District 102, is the sort of police officer I wish had stopped me when I was speeding. He is a music-loving tuba, percussion and organ player who, while in college at USC, performed with Carolina Alive, USC’s top-ranked vocal jazz and show choir that toured the state and nation.
In addition to his musical skills, Aiken has an abundance of that quality sorely lacking in the Statehouse and in the nation generally: empathy. But more on that later.
Aiken retired from the Summerville force in August, 2025 at the rank of lieutenant. His last assignment was serving as the School Resource Officer at Summerville High, the school from which he graduated nearly 30 years ago. In that role he was the link between the police department, the teachers, the parents, and the students.
Aiken was no stranger to a school environment. He started his own professional career after graduating from USC not in police work, but as a teacher. He worked with students in elementary, middle, and high school. His mother had been a school librarian, so he had an appreciation for education and its crucial role in the American success story. His assignment as the School Resource Officer at Summerville High gave him perspective on the challenges South Carolina schools are facing now.
“There are so many outstanding teachers there,” he says. “It’s frustrating to see the roadblocks that administrative processes have placed in their way that prevent them from teaching to the best of their ability.” He is dismayed that so many of these good teachers leave the profession early and that it is rare to see one spend an entire career in the public schools.
“We have to provide the incentives to make them want to stay,” he says. This means not only more competitive salaries for teachers, but also a better experience for them in the classroom. He starts with the curriculum, where he wants teachers to have much more input on what happens in their classrooms. Aiken understands that principals and state education officials have a lot of responsibilities. He hopes to work with them to help teachers focus even more on their students.
He wants to stop fighting culture wars in the classroom and get back to basics. For Aiken this means not only a focus on science, math and technology, but, refreshingly, on the arts and humanities. He wants students to become good writers who know sentence structure and the parts of speech. He also wants to teach them financial literacy.
He is concerned at how the State wants to impose one “good” version of South Carolina history on students. “The whole of South Carolina history should be taught,” he says. “Students deserve the whole picture.”
As the School Resource Officer Aiken saw students ask for permission to go through the lunch line a second time. When he asked them why, they told him that the school lunch would likely be their only meal of the day. And here is where Aiken’s empathy as a person comes into play. He started to bring snacks to his office. When students came to chat with him, he offered them something to eat. He knew they might not be getting dinner at home.
“We have to provide the resources to people to help them succeed,” Aiken says. And if that means getting food to hungry K-12 students, then government must step up and do it. He would press the Legislature to provide a free breakfast to all students so their day started properly. Currently the state does not provide this.
Aiken is in line with other Democrats who believe the next step to deal with the problems of explosive growth is, in his words, to “pump the brakes on development.” He would study what we want our communities to look like in 2030 before approving yet more development. He would raise impact fees on developers. He agrees with the move toward “concurrence” legislation that would require developers to work with county and state officials to provide the necessary roads, schools, energy and water that new communities will need.
Aiken’s wife is a registered nurse. This has given him insight into the lack of rural healthcare in South Carolina. “Why just build solar farms and data centers in rural areas,” he asks? “Why not build medical clinics so that our rural neighbors don’t have to drive an hour one-way on winding and rutted roads to get to a doctor?”
The clinics would provide jobs in these areas and improve public health. He would staff them in part with health care providers and support staff.
Aiken is skeptical of the proposed merger of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy. He remembers the promises Dominion made when they took over South Carolina Electric and Gas, promises that have proven empty as rates creep ever upward. He is a fan of the Berkeley Electric Cooperative (his provider) and how it has worked to keep rates low. As a legislator he would take a very close look at this acquisition before deciding whether to approve it.
Can Aiken change the tune in the Statehouse, which is often sour and discordant? Can this Legislature ever make music together? Given his empathy, expansive personality, and musical skills, perhaps Aiken can succeed.
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