Greenwood County Democratic Party

In this Newsletter:

Message from the Chair

Today is not a day that you need to hear anything from me. Instead, I encourage you to take some time to hear directly from six members of the GWCDP who have served our country over the decades. While their experiences are as varied as our nation overall they were all asked the same question at the end of the video yet had very similar responses.

Do you have 12 minutes that you can spare to hear their words today?

Thank you to the following who contributed their time to this video and to all who have heeded the call to serve our country. We are forever in your debt.

Sloan Griffin, Jr – Dr. Bob Phillips – Claudia Thomas 
Chad Farrell – Frank Koczwara – David Gaskin

GWCDP News

November Breakfast Meeting recap
Another successful and informational Breakfast Meeting was held on Nov. 6. If you weren’t able to attend, or wish to review some topics, we’ve uploaded the proceedings to YouTube!

November Volunteers of the Month announced
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party. We were thrilled to recognize Claudia Thomas and Chad Farrell as our Volunteers of the Month for November! They attended their first Breakfast Meeting just this past July but since then they’ve been instrumental in the success of the Floyd’s Fish Fry and have assisted with Breakfast Meetings since. Thank you for your contribution to the cause!

Upcoming Elections & Voting Rights

SC Senate Redistricting
In a surprising proposal, a major shifting of Senate territories has been shared by the SC Senate staff. Greenwood County, which was mostly in District 10 except for a little “finger” that comes down from Anderson, would be fully in District 10 in the new proposal.

In this Newsletter:

Message from the Chair

We have an action-packed newsletter today, so I will keep it brief!

I have the utmost respect for journalists and the news media, and while I abhor the term “fake news” (which means “news I don’t like”) there is psychological evidence that negative news sticks with us more than positive news.

When it comes to the Biden agenda, and living in the South, negative news certainly has obscured the truth of how successful of a year its been! While the Biden Economic Framework doesn’t have everything we had helped for, it is STILL the most progressive piece of legislation proposed in decades! What’s in it?

Do yourself a favor and take 80 seconds to listen to Jon Favreau (of Pod Save America and former Obama speechwriter) lay this out in the clearest manner I’ve heard so far. Make sure also to see Sen. Chris Murphy’s writeup at the end of this newsletter for an enlightening hypothetical conversation about the Biden Administration’s accomplishments this year.

And finally – please share! Information is a light in the darkness, but it needs YOUR help to make it shine.

GWCDP News

Breakfast Meeting on Nov 6 – new location!

Our next Breakfast meeting is coming up this weekend and there’s a location change –  for a good reason!

We will be meeting from 9 am to 10 am on Saturday, November 6 at the Boys & Girls Club cafeteria (the same place where the Floyd’s Fish Fry was held). The new location and shortened time will allow us to participate in the special celebration of the Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site which starts at 10 am right next door! This is part of a 3-day set of events to mark this important occasion. 

Guest speakers at our Breakfast Meeting include:

• Rev. James Thompson (retired), 1st Vice Chair of GWCDP
• JaDasia Mitchell, GWCDP intern
• GWCDP Chair, Bill Kimler, with an announcement of a special resolution from the Executive Committee

We’ll also have important updates, food, and socialization aplenty. Mark your calendars and then come on out for these great back-to-back activities!

In this Newsletter:

Message from the Chair

I sometimes fellow members complain along the following lines:

“Why did we elect Democrats to be in the majority if they can’t get XYZ done?” 

where XYZ is any of a number of important issues such as Voting Rights, Climate Change, Immigration Reform, etc.

Let’s be clear: Democrats indeed have the White House and the majority in the US Congress. It’s therefore in the US Senate where there’s been the greatest struggle to see the progress we worked so hard to bring about in the 2020 election. The Senate is nearly perfectly divided with 50 Senators who are Democrat (or caucus with the Democrats, like Sen. Bernie Sanders) and there are 50 Republicans. VP Kamala Harris serves as a tiebreaker.

It only takes one to gum up the works, whether it’s Joe Manchin tanking environmental action or Kyrsten Sinema, who opposes prescription drug pricing reform.

But what if Jaime Harrison had been elected to the US Senate from South Carolina. My, how things could be different!

I would like us to rephrase the above question to the following:

“What can we do to elect more Democrats so that XYZ can get done?”

Lets localize this question a bit: When reviewing voting precinct data in Greenwood County, one sees they can fall into one of two categories:

• Those which are heavily Republican and have a high turnout
• Those which are heavily Democratic and have low turnout.

There’s one precinct in the City of Greenwood that voted strongly for Democrats but only had a 56% turnout – far below the 72% average across the state.

Imagine if turnout in that precinct were 80% or higher.
Imagine if that were the case in other Democrat-leaning precincts across the state.
Imagine if this led Jaime Harrison to victory in 2020.
Imagine all of the great legislation that would now be passing on this very day!

Now let’s stop imagining and WORK to make that happen in 2022! We need to stop making meaningful change other peoples’  responsibility and start to make it our own.

Upcoming Elections & Voting Rights

Primary Election Day in Greenwood County District 5
Today’s a big day for the residents in County Council District 5 as there’s a Democratic Primary underway! Click on the image below to learn more about these three great candidates.

Voting is open from 7 am to 7 pm. Be aware that two of the precincts have been permanently moved:

• Coronaca precinct has changed from from St. Mark United Methodist Church to the Coronaca Fire Department at 125 Willard Road
• Graham’s Glen precinct has relocated The Burton Center to St. Mark United Methodist at 111 Fuller St.