SC Republicans, Democrats make final campaign push at Columbia-area breweries

COLUMBIA — Republicans and Democrats in South Carolina made their final get-out-the-vote pitch ahead of Election Day at breweries just a few miles apart.

Alan Wilson’s two-week bus tour of the state concluded Monday night at Steel Hands Brewing in Cayce. Volunteers for the GOP gubernatorial nominee’s campaign added their signatures to the bus as supporters gathered for short speeches by Wilson and other Republicans for statewide office.

At the same time, Democrats drank steins of beer and ate bratwursts on the outdoor patio of Bierkeller Brewing Co. overlooking the Columbia Canal, sometimes chanting “New SC,” the theme of Rep. Jermaine Johnson’s gubernatorial campaign.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday statewide.

The election guarantees a change in state leadership, with no incumbent on the ballot this year for governor, attorney general, commissioner of agriculture, and comptroller general.

Voters will also choose who replaces the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for the next six-year term. All House seats in Congress and the Statehouse are also on the ballot.

Democrats’ ‘opportunity’

At Bierkeller Brewing, Democratic Party leaders told roughly 50 attendees that a “New SC” involves electing Democrats up and down the ballot. Candidates in attendance were introduced as soon-to-be officeholders.

Each gave a message of hope, sometimes altering the state motto from “While I breathe, I hope,” to “While I breathe, I vote.”

“For far too long in this state, people have given up all sense of hope,” said Jaime Harrison, the former state Democratic Party chair who lost to Graham in 2020, then headed the Democratic National Committee.

It’s been 20 years since a Democrat won any statewide office in South Carolina. This year marks the first time in over 50 years that Democrats have a candidate on the ballot for every race, including all 124 state House seats. And they’re enthusiastic about flipping offices.

“We are on the brink of history, y’all,” said Vincent Coe, the nominee for state treasurer.

Other Democratic candidates at the event included Sylvia Wright, who’s running for superintendent of education. When Sam Skardon, Johnson’s pick for lieutenant governor, asked everyone who’d already voted to raise their hand, nearly every hand went up. Candidates pointed to early voting numbers as likely helping them.

During the two-week window that concluded Saturday, more than 1 million people cast ballots, according to data from the state Election Commission.

It’s impossible to know how many of those were Democrats, since voters don’t register by party in South Carolina. But Democrats are traditionally more likely to vote early than Republicans.

Momentum is propelling Democrats in polls nationwide. This is the year for Democrats, Johnson said, adding there might not be a better chance to elect Democrats to statewide office in South Carolina.

“It will be a shame on us if we squander away this opportunity right here, right now,” said Johnson, of Hopkins, first elected to the state House in 2020. “We may not ever see this opportunity come up for us in our lifetime again.”

Not in attendance were two Democratic candidates with the biggest chance of creating an upset: Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician running for the U.S. Senate; and retired Vice-Adm. Nancy Lacore, who’s running for the 1st Congressional District. Both live in Charleston County and campaigned together at The Refinery at the same time as the Columbia event.

GOP candidates

At Steel Hands Brewing, Wilson said the GOP gathering was about fun and fellowship but also a final call to action to the dozens of attendees to get themselves and friends to the polls Tuesday.

“As your next governor, I will always put you first. I won’t be a perfect governor, but I will be an accessible governor,” said Wilson, the state’s attorney general since 2010. “I will be an accountable governor, and I will be a governor who will always fight for you,’ Wilson said. 

U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, who faces Andrews to keep the seat she was appointed to after her brother died July 11, could barely talk. She seemed to have a case of laryngitis.

Wilson jokingly told the crowd that Graham was limited to two words to try to save whatever voice she had left.

Graham is in her first campaign ever at Trump’s encouragement. The president has visited South Carolina twice in the last two weeks to rally support for her as polls showed her in a statistical tie with Andrews.

“It has been a great campaign. This is the final stop, and I have enjoyed every minute of it,” Graham said. “I promise you, I will work so hard for this state every single day, and I am just so proud to serve South Carolina. So, I just humbly ask for your vote tomorrow. Sorry my voice is gone, but again, encourage you to get out and vote.”

Other candidates at the function in Lexington County, home to both Wilson and Graham, included Cody Simpson, the GOP nominee for agriculture commissioner; state Superintendent Ellen Weaver; and Wilson’s dad, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, who’s represented the 2nd District since 2001.

The congressman in Columbia

Campaigning with Johnson again was U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who’s among potential 2028 presidential contenders already visiting the state.

“I chose to be here because I truly believe that there is no election that will be more historic for the future of our country than putting Jermaine Johnson as governor in South Carolina,” said the congressman who represents Silicon Valley.

Absent from the Columbia event was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, who’s so confident in his own re-election, he spent the weekend campaigning for U.S. Senate candidates in other states.

On Friday, he was in Mississippi with Scott Colom. On Sunday, he was in Detroit campaigning for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrats’ nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan’s tight race.

Clyburn is expected to easily win an 18th term representing South Carolina’s 6th District, the only U.S. House seat in South Carolina safely drawn for a Democrat.