The South Carolina Democratic Party is the South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 affiliate of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. The Democratic party thrived during the Second Party System between 1832 and the mid-1850s and was one of the causes of the collapse of the Whig Party.

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. The white population of South Carolina, long before the American Civil War, strongly supported the institution of slavery. The first shots of the Civil War were fired in Charleston by its Citadel cadets upon a civilian merchant ship Star of the West bringing supplies to the beleaguered Federal garrison at Fort Sumter January 9, 1861. The April 1861 Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter ignited what became a four-year struggle that divided the nation. Seeing as how South Carolina was dominated by the Democratic Party, it became a source of troops for the Confederate Army.

Between 1880-1848, South Carolina's Democratic Party dominated state politics. The 1948 Presidential Election marked the winds of change as J. Strom Thurmond ran on behalf of the State's Rights Party. He accumulated 71% of the votes cast in South Carolina that year.

Nearly 100 years after the conclusion of the Civil War (around 1949), the state was still preoccupied with racial tension, which muffled the debate about the most important issue, the declining condition of the state's economy. During this time, all politics revolved around the Democratic Party. Furthermore, a single faction typically dominated local politics. South Carolina was locked into the traditionalistic culture dominant throughout the South. Political change was often resisted by South Carolina's agrarian leaders. The agrarian leaders were middle class farmers that were thought to maintain the status quo of the Democratic Party. The lower class was generally not allowed to vote.

In addition to resistance towards political change in the mid-1900's, South Carolina's Democratic party also prevented African Americans from voting in the primary election. This prevented African Americans from having a meaningful vote in the election. Due to the fact that there was no Republican candidate, the Democratic Primary election was essentially the Presidential election.

Current elected officials

The South Carolina Democratic Party controls none of the statewide offices and holds the minority in both the South Carolina Senate and the South Carolina House of Representatives. Democrats hold one of the state's six U.S. House seats.

U.S. House of Representatives

• James Clyburn, 6th District
  South Carolina's 6th congressional district
  The 6th Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in central South Carolina. It includes all of Bamberg, Clarendon, Colleton, Marion and Williamsburg counties and parts of Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Lee, Orangeburg, Richland and...
  
  

State Legislature

South Carolina General Assembly

The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...

• Senate Minority Leader
  South Carolina Senate
  The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
  
  : John C. Land III
  John C. Land III
  John C. Land III is a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 36th District since 1976. Previously he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1975 through 1976....
  
  
• House Minority Leader
  South Carolina House of Representatives
  The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
  
  : Harry L. Ott, Jr.
  Harry L. Ott, Jr.
  Harry L. Ott, Jr. is a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing the 93rd District since 1998 and serving as the Minority Leader.-External links:* official SC Legislature website* profile...
  
  

Officers and staff

As of May 2011, the state party officers were:

• Chair: Dick Harpootlian
• 1st Vice Chairman: Jamie Harrison
• 2nd Vice Chairman: Melissa Watson
• 3rd Vice Chairman: Will Maxey
• Secretary: Elizabeth Brown
• Treasurer: Marc Posner

State Party Staff:

• Executive Director:
• Political Director: Abe Jenkins

Governor : nikki Haley

Members of the Democratic National Committee

Four persons affiliated with the South Carolina Democratic Party also serve on the Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Committee

The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...

. These are:

• State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter
• Don Fowler
• Matthew Richardson

Presidential election results

2008 - McCain(Republican) 53.87% Obama(Democrat) 44.90%

2004 - Bush(Republican) 57.98% Kerry(Democrat) 40.90%

2000 - Bush(Republican) 56.83% Gore(Democrat) 40.91%

1996 - Dole(Republican) 49.89% Clinton(Democrat)43.89%

1992 - Bush(Republican) 48.02% Clinton(Democrat) 39.88%

1988 - Bush(Republican) 61.50% Dukakis(Democrat) 37.58%

1984 - Reagan(Republican) 63.55% Mondale(Democrat) 35.57%

1980 - Reagan(Republican) 49.57% Carter(Democrat) 48.04%

1976 - Ford(Republican) 43.13% Carter(Democrat) 56.17%

1972 - Nixon(Republican) 70.58% McGovern(Democrat) 27.92%

1968 - Nixon(Republican) 38.09% Humphrey(Democrat) 29.61% Wallace(Petition) 32.30%

1964 - Goldwater(Republican) 58.89% Johnson(Democrat) 41.10%

1960 - Nixon(Republican) 48.76% Kennedy(Democrat) 51.24%

1956 - Eisenhower(Republican) 25.18% Stevenson(Democrat) 45.37% Unpledged Elector 29.45%

1952 - Eisenhower(Republican) 49.28% Stevenson(Democrat) 50.72%

1948 - Dewey(Republican) 1944 - 1940 - 1936 - 1932 - 1928 - 1924 - 1920 - 1916 - 1912 - 1908 - 1904 - 1900 - 1896 - 1892 - 1888 - 1884 - 1880 - 1876 - 1872 - 1868 - 1852 - 1848 - 1844 - 1840 - 1836 - 1832 - 1828 - 1824 -

Office location

The South Carolina Democratic Party operates from its headquarters office in Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina.

Its physical address is:
1529 Hampton St.
| Suite 200
| Columbia, SC 29201

Its mailing address is:
P.O. Box 5965
| Columbia, SC 29250

External links

• South Carolina Democratic Party