Democrats face a challenging prospect of winning South Carolina in November’s presidential election. However, the state plays a crucial role in current President Joe Biden’s re-election chances.
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The party hopes that South Carolina’s new role as host of the party’s first official primary election on Feb. 3 will increase its support among black voters. Party officials also see the location as a springboard for an audacious strategy: to win back voters in the south of the country in the coming years.
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The Democratic Party has faced challenges in the region since the 1960s during civil rights protests. However, increasing migration to Southern states in recent years, along with statewide victories in Kentucky and North Carolina, as well as Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in 2020, has fueled hope that the party can improve its performance, starting for the November general election. Despite the modest national results, Democrats are confident that Biden can win North Carolina, a state that has only supported a Democrat once since 1980. He is also expected to win key congressional districts in the South.
This Saturday, Biden will visit South Carolina for the second time this month, attending a dinner celebrating the primaries, after meetings with rising party figures such as California Governor Gavin Newsom and Representative Ro Khanna. “From the ashes of the Old South, we will see, like a phoenix, the birth of a New South,” predicts Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina native. “South Carolina’s impact will not be relegated just to state borders.” However, reversing the balance in the Republican stronghold will not be easy. The president of the Republican Party in the state, Drew McKissick, says that the Democrats’ progressive positions on all issues, from the economy to customs, repulse the region’s most conservative voters.
