Several Democratic candidates will be at Penn Center on Saturday, Sept. 13 for a fish fry and rally. Hosted by the Beaufort County Democratic party and its supporters, the event, scheduled from noon to 4 p.m., is free and open to the public.

[caption id="attachment_18671" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SHEHEENVforad1.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-18671" alt="Vincent Sheheen" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SHEHEENVforad1-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a> Vincent Sheheen[/caption]

“We want to give the voters an opportunity to meet the candidates in person and hear what they have to say,” said Blaine Lotz, Beaufort County Democratic Party chairman.

Among those attending are: State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, Democratic nominee for Governor; State Rep. Bakari Sellers, the nominee for Lt. Governor; and Joyce Dickerson, who is running for U.S. Senate. Several other state and local candidates are expected to attend as well, including two incumbents running for re-election, Rev. Kenneth Hodges, who represents District 121 in the SC House of Representatives and Laura Von Harten, a member of the Beaufort County Council.

Sheheen, a lifelong South Carolinian, has been a member of the SC Senate since 2004, and was a member of the SC House of Representatives from 2000 to 2004. He ran against Nikki Haley in 2010, narrowly losing to her at that time.

[caption id="attachment_18673" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/JoyceDickersonHeadshot.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-18673" alt="Joyce Dickerson" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/JoyceDickersonHeadshot-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a> Joyce Dickerson[/caption]

Sellers interned with U.S. Representative James Clyburn before being elected in 2006, as the youngest member

[caption id="attachment_18672" align="alignright" width="150"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sellers-Bakari1.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-18672" alt="Bakari Sellers" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sellers-Bakari1-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a> Bakari Sellers[/caption]

of the South Carolina General Assembly at the time. The son of civil rights leader Dr. Cleveland Sellers, he is a graduate of Morehouse College and holds a law degree from the University of South Carolina. In 2010, Time magazine chose Sellers as one of the “rising stars of American politics” in its list of “40 under 40,” and the African-American news service The Grio named Sellers to its “100 History Makers in the Making.”

Dickerson is a three-term Richland County Councilwoman and retired Columbia businesswoman. She is running to fill the remaining 2-years of Jim DeMint’s term and will face Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott in the general election.