President expected to beat 2 little-known candidates; Democrats want to keep focus on more diverse state
By Abraham Kenmore
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — South Carolina Democrats announced Monday a major investment and the hiring of about 50 people ahead of the nation’s first primary recognized by the national party, while declining to give any specifics on how much they’re spending.
They also said President Joe Biden will campaign in the Palmetto State at some point over the next two months.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, himself a South Carolinian, joined state party Chairwoman Christale Spain to announce the investment ahead of the state’s Feb. 3 presidential primary. The contest features President Joe Biden facing two extreme-long-shot candidates: U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and author Marianne Williamson.
A party spokeswoman would say only that the investment is “six figures.”
Technically, New Hampshire will still hold its Democratic primary before South Carolina — on Jan. 23 — after state leaders defied national Democrats and leapfrogged the Palmetto State to be first on Democrats’ voting calendar. To show his disapproval, Biden refused to register for the New Hampshire primary set 11 days before South Carolina’s.
National party leaders want to make sure the focus stays on South Carolina and a population they say better represents the Democratic Party’s diverse voters. Statewide, more than a quarter of the population is Black, compared to just 2% in New Hampshire and 4.4% in Iowa, which remains first on the presidential calendar for Republican voters.
The calendar shift also was seen as Biden rewarding the state. It was South Carolina that catapulted Biden to a win in 2020 with a 30-point advantage here over second-place finisher Bernie Sanders, following a fourth-place finish in Iowa and fifth-place finish in New Hampshire.
“For the first time ever, Black voters, rural voters and southern voters get to have their voices heard first in this process,” Spain said. “And with so much on the line in 2024, we’re going to use every tool at our disposal to make sure South Carolinians are fired up and ready to go.”
Harrison, who became national chairman after losing his 2020 bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, said conversations in the nominee process will shift too.
“Instead of talking about ethanol,” he said in a reference to Iowa, “we’re going to talk about Black infant mortality rates. Think about the power that now gives Black folks to help set the agenda for presidents for this election to future elections.”
The new hires will include six regional directors, a campus organizer, and 12 event coordinators who will work through mid-February, as well as 30 workers hired specifically for the week before the primary to encourage people to vote, according to party spokeswoman Alyssa Bradley. She declined to specify the wages for the week-long workers.
A “first in the nation” bus tour will launch January 13, Spain said, adding “we expect to see the president here.”
She stressed that the get-out-the-vote effort will be statewide.
“We’re going to fight to keep our first-in-the-nation status by making sure our voters know how to seize this opportunity,” she said.
Spain and Harrison acknowledged that South Carolina is highly unlikely to go blue in November 2024 but said the effort would lay groundwork for future races, both in South Carolina and elsewhere.
South Carolina “can be very, very helpful in terms of volunteers, recruiting volunteers, getting people organized to support efforts in the state but also in neighboring states as well, in places like Georgia and North Carolina, which may be more competitive this cycle,” Harrison said. “But the game plan Christale has is that as we roll around in 2028, not only does South Carolina host the first-in-the-nation primary but that it’s also competitive in the general election as well.”
Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
