South Carolina Democratic Party Christale Spain sat down with The State to talk about her strategy for the upcoming 2024 election. While there are no statewide elections next November, South Carolina has the opportunity to move our legislature forward with the Chair’s plan: mobilizing voters year-round and making sure voters know the Republicans’ MAGA agenda to ban abortion, gut funding for public schools, and make it easier for criminals to hold guns while Democrats fight for working families, work to expand Medicaid, and keep communities safe.
Read more about her plan below:
The State: Why SC’s new Democratic leader actually isn’t trying to turn the state blue in 2024
On a recent morning about a month after Christale Spain’s election as South Carolina’s new Democratic Party chairwoman, she searched through a ring of keys to unlock the front door at the party’s office. She’s just getting her feet wet in her new job. But she has a daunting task in front of her.
Spain’s assignment: Finding a solution to reverse Democratic fortunes at the ballot boxes in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2006 and lost precious seats in the State House in both 2020 and 2022.
Spain was elected in April as the first Black woman to lead the state party.
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At the same time, South Carolina Democrats have to overcome the major challenges of donor fatigue and a perception the party can’t win. Gerrymandering and straight-ticket voting, which generally favors Republicans in the state, don’t make Spain’s job any easier, either.
So as Spain sets goals in the 2024 election cycle, which is expected to see higher turnout than the 2022 election in a ruby red South Carolina, she’s not bothering to set an unreasonable expectation of turning the state blue for President Joe Biden or even giving Democrats a majority in either chamber of the state General Assembly.
That’s just not possible — for now, she says.
Instead, she’s focusing on more achievable goals that can create momentum and give the party a feeling of making progress.
“Every cycle, (we say) ‘We’re gonna turn the state blue.’ And then when we don’t, it’s such a big loss,” Spain said. “So we can’t even celebrate the year we picked up with a congressional seat. We can’t even celebrate Heather Bauer (because) we lost a bunch of seats around her. We’re not establishing what victory looks like. What is our goal? And for me, it’s not going to be to turn South Carolina blue. I want to, but I have to look at what’s in front of me. Is it possible in two years? No. It’s a cycle-to-cycle strategy.”
Along with the built-in challenges within South Carolina’s elections, Spain enters a consequential election cycle as the party needs to learn from mistakes in previous elections.
“I think that’s a challenge anyone coming into the job will face,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist in the state. “Then there’s a certain perception, even though we are the most loyal and dedicated and consistent voter bloc in a generation, that an African American, particularly a Black woman, can’t be successful in the job. That perception exists both in and outside the party.”
But Seawright says the party’s challenges are an opportunity for Spain to change that leadership narrative.
“I think she has to … gather quickly some small wins, create some momentum, make some headway and some headlines and restore trust back into the hearts and minds of South Carolina Democrats,” Seawright said.
Spain won’t say yet which legislative districts the party will eventually target. But she stands now at the head of a party that holds just 36 out of 124 seats in the state House and 15 out of 46 seats in the state Senate. All 170 of those seats are up for election in 2024.
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Spain has some thoughts on how she can bring in cash for the party: For one, by leveraging South Carolina’s position as the first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary.
Spain already is eyeing events such as the Blue Palmetto Dinner and bringing back the Spratt Issues Conference this fall to allow potential 2028 candidates to come and pay to be sponsors.
“They should understand how important it is to make sure the party is strong and operating at a high level, so when they come in the next cycle, the next presidential cycle, they (will) need to make an early investment,” Spain said.
WHAT’S THE MESSAGE?
In 2024, abortion access could be a central part of a Democratic the message the state and around the country.
It’s a platform that helped state Rep. Heather Bauer, D-Richland, defeat the Republican incumbent state Rep. Kirkman Finlay in 2022. Bauer, despite being at a funding disadvantage against a wealthy incumbent, won by 235 votes after her campaign put in the work of knocking doors and sending mailers to voters.
But in a state where Republicans have pushed through a six-week abortion ban, currently blocked by a court order, supporting abortion rights is a stance Democratic candidates most likely will need in order to make gains, Spain said.
“The Republicans have shown us who they are, and I would love to have candidates that draw contrast, because part of the strategy is to demonstrate who the Republicans are, to make sure that the voters in these districts know who represents them and what they’re focused on,” Spain said.
It’s not just abortion access where Democrats needs to lean in, Spain said. Her party also needs to continue to fight against open carry of guns and fight for Medicaid expansion in contrast to Republican-led initiatives.
“I need to have strong serious candidates who can stand in opposition to some of these bad these bad policies,” Spain said.
But abortion access, gun control and Medicaid expansion aren’t new platforms for Democrats; the trick for Spain is determining what issues will actually mobilize enough voters to win.
Some party officials have advocated for reaching out to rural communities and white voters to grow the party in the state.
Spain said if the party can raise the money she needs to pay for the year-round voter engagement that she envisions, reaching out to rural and white voters will be a possibility.
GETTING FACE-TO-FACE WITH VOTERS
Even with the legislative primary election about a year away, Spain’s goal will be to engage with voters year-round through phone calls or door knocks, as part of a 46-county strategy.
“We need to have an organizing operation,” Spain said. “We have to get in front of our voters at least three times. So you got to plan and map all that stuff out, and you better raise money so that you can do that. Volunteer operations are pretty much how these things run, but you still have to have some money for folks to be running the day-to-day and sending out mail and doing all the digital and all the things that have to happen.”
In recent elections, the party struggled to have the face-to-face contact with voters. In 2020, the party opted away from door knocking to slow the spread of the COVID-19. In 2022, the party didn’t have the financial resources to coordinate a ground game.
Spain said she plans to have tough conversations with candidates early about the work that needs to happen in order to win, including candidates themselves raising money and reaching out to voters. The party’s job will focus on turning out the base voters, while candidates need to work to persuade voters who need to be convinced to support Democrats, Spain said.
“It’s also setting and managing expectations (so) that candidates understand what their role is, and what the party’s role is,” Spain said.
After reaching out to voters, the party needs to make sure they ultimately go in vote, even it means metaphorically holding voters’ hands all the way to polling places.
“We’ve got to educate them on the issues, like what’s at stake, how we’ve delivered as Democrats, who’s representing you right now and how they’re not delivering, and this is how you go and vote,” Spain said.
