Cindy Risher, Lanette Samuels-Cooper and state Rep. Fawn M. Pedalino gather in downtown Manning prior to a Clarendon County GOP meeting Thursday Sept. 12, 2024, in Clarendon County.
Things felt better when Trump was in office. They supported him in 2020, and “I’ll shout it from the mountain,” Becky said.
The Scotts’ politics are a departure from the area norm. Like most of the South, Clarendon was blue for most of the 20th century. In 1976, Jimmy Carter swept the Deep South, winning 64 percent of Clarendon’s vote.
But as time marched on, the margins got narrower. Farmers and timber producers, frustrated by lack of support from Washington, started voting red. Democratic presidential candidates were soon barely hovering above the 50 percent marker.
In 2020, Trump tipped it over the edge, becoming the first Republican candidate to win Clarendon County since Richard Nixon in 1972.
Signs of that shift linger today.
Trump and Vance 2024 yard signs dot lawns across the county. In September, the county Republican party opened its new headquarters on a prominent street corner right in downtown Manning.
It’s not just presidential politics that have a red tinge. When County Council met in August, for example, to discuss solar energy farm regulation, several farmers and timberland owners spoke out. They were concerned, they said, that the county’s prime agricultural land would be converted for renewable energy uses.
Clarendon county council members Dwight Stewart Jr. (left) and W.J. Frierson along with wife (right) Delaney Frierson, with the State Board of Education attend the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Community Check in held at Trinity Full Gospel Church in Manning Monday Sept. 30, 2024.
Chairman Dwight Stewart Jr. said he expects the council will be dealing with more personal property rights issues as the county’s population grows.
As for the political differences at play, “it’s a balancing act,” he said.
Conservatives want to flip three of five seats on County Council this year. Probate Judge Margaret “Peggi” Sorrell switched her affiliation to run as a Republican instead of a Democrat. And many are out door-knocking with Pedalino, who is seeking to fend off Democratic challenger Quadri Bell.
“It’s looking really good for us if we can turn out our vote,” said county Republican Party Chairman Moye Graham.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
