Republican domination in SC is intact but Upstate Democrats target local offices to flip

After voters tuned into Thursday night's first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, questions swirled about the top of the 2024 general election ticket.

But in South Carolina, and particularly among Upstate voters, after the primary runoff elections ended on Tuesday, more attention may shift to local races on Nov. 5.

There's little to no threat that South Carolina's reputation as a solidly Republican state will change. The state last turned blue in 1976 when Democrat Jimmy Carter won against Republican Gerald Ford.

And the Upstate maintains its place as a Republican stronghold.

In 2020, Greenville County overwhelmingly supported Trump with 58% of the vote to Biden’s 39%. His win was even more decisive in Anderson County with the former president receiving 74% of the vote to Biden's 24%. The results were similar in Spartanburg County, where Trump secured 66% of the vote to Biden's 33%, and garnered 55% of the statewide vote.

Biden's support was mostly within Greenville city limits where he won several precincts, according to data from the South Carolina Election Commission.

Though Biden and Trump visited South Carolina ahead of the presidential preference primary in February, Nate Leupp, former chairman of the Greenville GOP, says he does not expect them to return unless for a fundraising event.

What can be expected for local races?

As far as local races go, Leupp said the Upstate primarily focuses on getting through the primary. Whoever secures the party nomination is usually expected to win in the general election. He added that because of the way the districts are drawn, political parties face the most opposition in the primary and not the general election.

“It ends up being kind of a boring November,” Leupp said.

More: Greenville County primary runoff voters back incumbents who keep council seats

The SC Washington delegation is not expected to look drastically different politically because of the primary nomination outcomes. The only expected change in the delegation is GOP nominee Sheri Biggs to replace U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan for the 3 ^rd Congressional District as Duncan retires. Though Biggs faces Democratic challenger Bryon Best, a competitive race is not expected. The district has not had a Democratic representative since 1995 when Butler Derrick served from 1975 to 1995.

If Biggs wins, she will join GOP Rep. Nancy Mace as one of the two women in South Carolina's Washington delegation.

In local Upstate races, many candidates faced opposition in the primary, but will not face opposition in November. For example, more than half of Greenville County councilmembers were up for re-election, with the majority facing a primary opponent but no challenger in the general election.

The only GOP candidate facing a Democratic challenger in November is Frank Farmer, who secured his party's nomination against Jay Rogers in the June 25 primary runoffs. He faces Karine DeBaty, who is a candidate in the collaboration between the Greenville County Democratic Party and Spartanburg County Democratic Party initiative called Priority 6.

The parties identified six seats held by Republicans that they believe can be flipped and recruited candidates believed to have a strong chance of winning or coming close enough to winning to help bolster a campaign in the next election.

“This is a short- and long-term strategy,” Greenville County Democratic Party Chair Amanda McDougald Scott said during the party’s convention in March.

The strategy hinges on identifying seats where Democratic challengers have come within 12 points in recent contests.

The six candidates for Greenville County include

• Taylor Culliver, challenging Ross Turner for State Senate District 8
• Octavia Amaechi, challenging GOP nominee Roger Nuttfor State Senate District 12
• Brann Fowler, challenging GOP nominee Paul Wickensimer for Statehouse District 22
• Shauna Johnson, challenging Bruce Bannister for Statehouse District 24
• John MacCarthy, challenging David Vaughan for State House District 27
• Debaty, challenging GOP nominee Farmer for Greenville County Council.

Chairwoman of the Spartanburg Democratic Party Kathryn Harvey will also challenge incumbent William Timmons for South Carolina’s 4 ^th Congressional District.

“We are excited to launch the Priority 6 coordinated campaign. ‘Priority 6’ builds on the success of previous Democratic candidates, electeds, and incumbents in Greenville and Spartanburg. With an increasingly extreme agenda from Republicans being enacted statewide, the time to fight for our freedoms is now,” Scott said in a statement. “This program is a strategic and targeted effort that will help give voters a choice between the same Republican candidates and incumbents who continue to erode our liberty and Democratic candidates who want to improve quality of life, and pursuit of happiness for all South Carolinians, starting right here in Greenville.”

Chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party Christale Spain said during a press conference on Thursday that a win is also giving voters a choice in the general election, but the party is still focusing on engaging Democratic voters across the state.

“We want these seats and we’re going to fight for them,” Spain said.

Savannah Moss covers politics for the Greenville News. Reach her at smoss@gannett.com or follow her on X @Savmoss.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Republican domination in SC is intact but Upstate Democrats target local offices to flip