Shain enters race to fill Wilkins' seat

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That wasn't something the Greenville City Council member at-large had considered.

"When people you have a lot of respect for start asking you to run, you owe them the courtesy of studying it."

Shain said she has decided to enter the pool of candidates already interested in the seat.

She declared her candidacy inside the atrium of McAllister Square on Wednesday, flanked by members of the City Council, County Council, and former South Carolina Gov. Richard Riley, who introduced her as "a very special kind of leader."

"She pulls people together," he said. "And we need that in Greenville County, the state and the country."

Shain, 47, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in communications and a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a master of social work.

She has been on the city council since 1999 and is currently the Economic Development Committee chair. She is president of Shain & Associates, a public relations firm.

If elected, Shain said she plans to build coalitions with the legislative body in Columbia something she realizes will help her get legislation passed on the state level.

She also wants to help raise the state graduation rate and demonstrate to the state legislators how much of an asset Greenville County's economy is to the state.

Her move comes a day after the announcement by Tom Ervin, who switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, declared his candidacy for the seat.

Others interested in the seat include Republican Bruce Bannister, an attorney; Republican Warren Mowry, who once headed the county's Republican Party and attorney William Herlong, a Republican on the Greenville County school board.

A special election is scheduled for Oct. 4. Filing for the seat begins at noon June 17 and ends at noon June 27.