South Carolina is not an obvious location for a possible Democratic turnaround: the party has not won a Senate race in more than two decades, currently has no elected office across the state, and Trump is expected to easily win the state. But Democrats are feeling a little momentum that they hope Harrison can build. Two years ago, the party was encouraged by the victory of Joe Cunningham, a Democrat, in the race for South Carolina’s First Congressional District, which includes much of the Charleston area.
Jim Hodges, the last Democrat to be elected governor in South Carolina in 1998, said Harrison’s success so far has been partly attributable to college-educated white women in the suburbs of places like Charleston – part of a larger country trend that Republicans are monitoring with anxiety.
“Democrats are winning in suburban legislative disputes here and are certainly more competitive in others,” said Hodges. The “untold story” about the Democratic primary race in South Carolina in February – a crucial victory for Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. – “is not only that Biden has had strong African-American support, but that half of the voters in the primaries were non-African American women, ”he added.
The state is also becoming more diverse, with an influx of newcomers, both foreign and from other parts of the country, who are helping to increase the population to about 5.1 million today, from 3.9 million in 2000 – voters Harrison hopes to help ended up supporting him in November.
In a telephone interview, Harrison was optimistic that he could persuade some Trump admirers to support him, although Republicans note that South Carolina has a direct vote, which makes these coffee shop choices possible, but less likely. Part of that support, he said, has to do with the money he raised, which allowed his campaign to more broadly share his “Rural Hope Agenda”, including expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, investing in infrastructure and expanding access broadband in rural communities.
“I know we have some Donald Trump supporters who are going to vote for Jaime,” he said. “I talked to them. You know, some of them went to the demonstrations because they don’t trust Lindsey. “
Harrison’s message is fueled by the assumption that South Carolinians are tired not only of partisanship, but also of the racism and racial divisions that have defined state policy for decades. Graham replaced segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond, who retired in 2003. Since then, the state has been a launch pad for a prominent Republican minority, including former Governor Nikki Haley, an Indian-American, and Senator Tim Scott , which is black.