Greenwood County Democratic Party

Message from the Chair

Letters to the editor.
Marches and rallies.
Social media.
Conversations at home, at work, at church, in the backyard.

There are many ways in which we need to let our voices be heard. We cannot let extreme oppressive messages dominate the airways and our Facebook feeds.

Two months ago, I started putting my voice out there, taking me somewhat out of my comfort zone. But there were things happening every week that deeply moved me and I needed an outlet to share my thoughts. I launched Monday Musings, a series of 5-minutes videos where I share thoughts on legislative priorities, flag symbolism, transgender rights, healthcare, and local lawmakers. I welcome your feedback, but even if nobody watches, I still think it’s important to speak up!

Are you interested in being heard? We would love to lend our platform to you! We can offer our website and social media pages for you to share your views in a blog or video post. Just reply to this email and let us know!

Your Voting Rights

House Democrats have passed HR 1, the most comprehensive and desperately NEEDED voting reform legislation in decades!

What’s in it? Take a look below and wonder why, oh why, would a single Republican be against this?

GWCDP News

SCDP Convention
The annual South Carolina Democratic Party State Convention was held virtually last weekend and THANK YOU to the delegates from Greenwood County who participated! If you missed it, you can watch the full proceedings which were saved on Facebook.

Congratulations to the elected leadership of our State Party! We look forward to working with them to make South Carolina and Greenwood County stronger for Democrats.

Message from the Chair

I am so very grateful to the Biden administration and the countless number of scientists and medical professionals who rapidly made COVID vaccines available to all Americans. My heart aches for the ongoing pandemic tragedy in India and elsewhere where the people were not as fortunate to have been able to get ahead of this like we have.

Nearly 600,000 Americans have died in the past year due to COVID. Recent studies indicate the true toll may be even higher than that. It disturbs me to see even still denial of its seriousness runs rampant: From the general population refusing to vaccinate all the way up to our Republican leadership discouraging people from getting vaccinated.

The Greenwood City Council recently voted to let the mask ordinance expire on May 10. I walked into a local business recently to do some shopping and on the window was the Greenwood City notification that masks were required with the word “NOT” written in bold red marker. Rather than just take the notice down and let business carry on, the owner decided to make an anti-mask “statement”. I quickly decided to take my business elsewhere.

I do believe we are progressing toward resuming normalcy. But I’m saddened that there are still people who go out of their way to insult the memories of those who have passed and those who have taken seriously ill over the past year. 

Your Voting Rights

School Board Elections today

Greenwood School Districts 51 (Ware Shoals) and 52 (Ninety Six) are holding elections for open positions on their School Board today.

Two seats are open in District 51.
One seat is open in District 52.

The Index-Journal has a nice writeup on each of the candidates in the races. Please read and be informed before heading to the polls. As good Democrats, we take our duty to cast votes very seriously. Local elections are just as important as national ones!

Message from the Chair

On Wednesday, Apr 28 at 9 pm, President Joe Biden will address Congress for the first time. Senator Tim Scott has been picked to deliver the GOP “Response” to President Biden’s words.

We think it’s important to hear opposing viewpoints, so to help make it more palatable (and to help keep you awake at that late hour) we’ve come up with “Tim Scott Bingo”!

Just mosey on over to our Tim Scott Bingo web page and choose any of the 5 Bingo cards to download. Then tune in and see how quickly you can achieve BINGO! by matching phrases on the card with actual words spoken by the Senator. We’ll even have a Live Tracker available to help you check if your card’s phrases have been spoken.

We hope you have fun with this little pastime!

GWCDP News

We have a great Virtual Breakfast Meeting lined up for this Saturday, May 1, at 9 am. Our featured speakers include:

Christopher Byrant is a DC attorney by way of Charleston, SC specializing in voting rights. He will talk with us about voting suppression in SC and how we stack up against other states in the country. He also shares what it was like to sit 10 feet away from Dylan Roof at a trial hearing!

Rev Alexis Carter Thomas may be a relative newcomer to Greenwood, but she’s already made a huge impact on our community! She will speak about the journey that brought her here, talking with youth about the Derek Chauvin verdict, and how the Lander University “Race and Identity Dialogue” series came about.

David Gaskin is the GWCDP Executive Committeeman, a cornerstone member of Bailey Bethel AME, and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He will share with us his story and opinions about what’s happening in the political world today.

We will also have Legislative Updates from Denise Waldrep, GWCDP Updates from Chair Bill Kimler, and an open forum for Zoom participants at the end.

Please register now so that you can get the connection links and email reminders as the event draws close.