By Scott Graber
It is Wednesday, and I’m at the Shellring Ale Works in Port Royal. I’m sitting at a picnic table located on a bluff overlooking Battery Creek. I’m here, along with 100 other people drinking pale ale (“Don’t Feed the Locals”), listening to a young man talk about his candidacy for a seat in the House of Representatives.
Mac Deford, a Democrat, says it’s an uphill battle.
In the last race, in 2024, the Republican (Nancy Mace) got 227,502 votes; the Democrat got 162,582 votes. Deford admits The Cook Voting Index rated the District at R+8; meaning it went Republican in the last election and, furthermore, was 8 points above the National Average.
But Deford adds that the Cook rating is now R+6. So, he says, we are trending down and may end up in toss-up territory.
Some may know that I am an aging, first-inspired-by-John Kennedy Democrat who came of age when Mendel Rivers (a Democrat) held the seat in the First Congressional District. Rivers, like many Southern House members, got himself repeatedly re-elected and gradually acquired seniority. He was also good at “constituent services” and very good at moving military assets into his District.
In 1975, I wrote, “In 1965 when Robert McNamara began his austerity program — began closing bases — the 1st Congressional District lost one military facility — a Marine transportation shed that employed three men. To soften this blow a Polaris squadron (2,200 men) was attached to Charleston.”
I also remember when we had a Democratic Governor — Dick Riley — who was determined to improve education in South Carolina and was largely responsible for the Education Improvement Act. When Bill Clinton won the big enchilada he made Riley his Education Secretary.
I remember a Democratic Senator (Fritz Hollings) who actually acknowledged poverty and hunger in Beaufort County; and was instrumental in the creation of food stamps. (In his free time he played tennis with Ted Kennedy.)
Beginning in the 1980s and continuing into the present day the Republicans flipped every South Carolina House seat except that of Jim Clyburn in the 6th Congressional District. Clyburn still hangs on because the 6th District ranges all over South Carolina designed to hoover-up every Black voter; as well as the moderates in downtown Charleston.
Currently the First District hugs the South Carolina coast below Myrtle Beach, taking in fast-growing Mt. Pleasant, skipping over downtown Charleston, then grabbing West Ashley, Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head. This is where many of the Northern retirees found a home after creating impressive 401K portfolios and selling their mortgage-free homes in New Canaan.
These retirees migrated for a variety of reasons but building a deep water dock and avoiding high property taxes was high-up on the list. These folk mostly vote Republican and in 2024 Trump carried the 1st District with 56% of the vote.
Deford is young, energetic and moves — this evening — through the grey-headed, beer-sipping crowd with a cordless microphone telling us a little bit about his life (Coast Guard, MBA at Chapel Hill, attorney) and then moving to the issues.
In particular he talks about workforce housing, health care, child care, and reproductive rights. These are, of course, important issues with his Democratic base and the DNC.
But one wonders about the retirees who gave Republican Mace 59% of the District’s vote in 2024? And what about the 64,920-voter difference between Mace and Moore? Does Deford think he can win the District without peeling-off some of these people?
And what might sway these folks?
Surely the Hilton Head and Mt. Pleasant retirees are astounded by the traffic congestion. “My God, Babs, Coleman Boulevard is worse than anything we had in downtown Buffalo.”
Surely the runaway development that is hardscaping the coastal pine forests of Jasper and Beaufort Counties worries some of these folks.
And in Beaufort we are looking for funding to pay for a huge multi-million dollar project to rebuild our Waterfront Park. The people on Hilton Head are also looking for money for a new bridge. And then, of course, we have the proposed, design-to-be-determined seawall that will surround the Charleston Peninsula. Sales tax funding may be required (and design is often controversial) meaning these huge construction projects will soon have their impact.
Waiting for Trump to implode — and his band to scatter — seems to be the current Democratic strategy. But finding commonalities and specific constituencies (MUSC professors without grants) may be a better bet.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
