| Early in his life, Overture learned about government's capacity to help families survive and empower people to thrive. Shortly before his birth, Overture's parents separated, and he was born into poverty in Sumter, SC, on Sept. 30, 1980. During his formative years, his mother raised him and his brother with help from his grandfather, a former sharecropper with a third-grade education, and his grandmother, a former domestic in the Jim Crow South, with a fourth-grade education.
While living with his grandparents, who were dependent on public relief, he experienced overcrowded housing as 11 people shared a two-bedroom, one-bath dilapidated rental home devoid of central air and heat and plagued by shabby plumbing. His mother attended the local community college at night, took a work-study job during the day, and received government assistance while struggling to carve out a better life for her sons who lagged academically, particularly Overture, who suffered from a speech disorder.
In 1986, his mother remarried and moved the family to Southeast Richland County, where he received a middle-class upbringing and attended Richland One public schools. His stepfather, an Army veteran, and mail handler for the U.S. Postal Service, espoused virtues such as honesty, hard work, perseverance, patience, accountability, thriftiness, academic excellence, and faith as the means of getting ahead in life. After a few years in a structured, stable environment, Overture began to flourish academically, and he gained control of his speech disorder with the help of his school's speech therapist. Unfortunately, his stepfather died of complications from prostate cancer in 1995. He did not live to see him graduate from Lower Richland High School in 1998 and subsequently matriculate into the University of South Carolina.
After working his way through college and law school with the help of scholarships, grants, and student loans, Overture worked with the Richland County Public Defender's Office, where he provided access to justice for those with limited resources as a public defender. After working in indigent defense, he accepted a position at the City Attorney's Office for the City of Columbia, where he fought to keep communities safe as a city prosecutor and protected taxpayer dollars as a city attorney. In 2015, Mayor Steve Benjamin and City Council unanimously appointed him to a four-year term as a city judge, where he made consequential decisions without friends to reward or enemies to punish. With more than 15 years in private practice, he has safeguarded the legal rights of citizens while protecting families and working people against the negligence and indifference of big companies and governmental entities.
As a small business owner and founder of Stoney & Walker, LLC, with law offices in Charleston and Columbia, he understands the challenges of starting a new business and making payroll.
Overture knows his story was only made possible because he went from an environment of economic instability where government helped his family "survive" into an atmosphere of economic stability and better access to resources where his parents' held jobs that paid a living wage. It was the latter environment that paved the way for him to "thrive." His unique understanding of how "effective" government can provide residents an opportunity to improve their circumstances serves as a catalyst for how Overture operates as a public servant. It was that understanding that partly led Overture to seek a seat on Richland County Council.
Among other things, Overture expressed the desire to push the government to think more about ways to harness the private sector to steer economic development and jobs with livable wages toward economically vulnerable and neglected communities. "I want to ensure that every family and household is included in the progress and prosperity of the County" he said at the time. Overture firmly believes government exists solely to improve the quality of life for all its citizens. "To accomplish this mission" he said, "we must have transparency at every level of government that informs taxpayers how their dollars are being spent."
He would approach serving in the Senate with a similar mindset to how he approached his tenure on Richland County Council- Overture believes residents and the business community are not interested in abstract debates about big or small state government or petty squabbles between elected officials but are simply yearning for "effective" government. He further understands that to govern effectively, it is imperative to strengthen people's confidence in government, provide a government representative of the electorate, and remove barriers to opportunity.
He aims to help build a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Overture is a graduate of the USC School of Law and served as an intern for former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges. He has been a resident of Richland County for over 30 years, is active in the community, and has served on various council and civic committees. He is married to Sharon DuPree Walker, and they are the proud parents of a daughter who attends public school in Richland District Two. |