SC Democrats’ former executive director seeks to be 1st Black woman to lead state party

The former executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, who worked on Cory Booker’s 2020 campaign and launched a political action committee to boost voter participation, wants to run the state party.

And former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, the last Democrat to win the S.C. governor’s race in 1998, is backing her campaign.

Christale Spain, 46, of Columbia, announced on Monday she is seeking to become the next chair and the first Black woman to run the state Democratic Party. Spain, who previously was the party’s executive director and is the senior advisor of Black engagement at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says it’s time for the party to grow.

“I believe in the South Carolina Democratic Party and what we can be,” she said in a statement. “I am running to continue to move this party forward in a productive and unified way.”

Spain is the second candidate to declare their candidacy for chair.

Brandon Upson, 37, who lives in York County and currently leads the S.C. Democratic Party’s Black Caucus, announced his bid earlier this month. He has slate of candidates running with him: Mary Geren of Anderson County for first vice chair, Melina Rodelo of Oconee County for second vice chair, and Erica Sampson of Charleston County for third vice chair.

Spain is not running as part of a slate.

Trav Robertson, who has run the state party since his first election in 2017, has not yet announced whether he’ll seek reelection for another two-year term at the party’s spring convention. Robertson did not respond to a request for comment, but on Monday tweeted, “my friend, Christale Spain’s election as chair would be a historic moment for our party!”

The party, Spain said, turned out 1.1 million voters in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and flipped the 1st Congressional District blue in 2018. The party also flipped a Richland County State House seat in 2022.

”He’s (Robertson) done a good job. It’s a big job, (and) he’s got victories to celebrate,” Spain said.

But the party has suffered major setbacks also in those years.

In the 2022 midterms, Democrats’ membership in the S.C. House shrank to 36 seats, and two years before, despite flipping one Charleston-area seat first in a special election, Democrats lost two seats in the House and three in the Senate.

In November, as Republican Gov. Henry McMaster sought a second full term, Democrats lost the governor’s race by nearly 18 points — a glaring figure that has roiled Democrats inside the party.

In 2015, Spain worked as then-presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ political director, then later worked in U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s district office, focusing on constituent services and outreach. In 2020, Spain was the state director for Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign. She joined the DCCC in 2021.

After the 2020 elections, Spain launched the 46 Hope Road political action committee to engage and register voters who had not participated since former President Barack Obama was first elected in 2008.

Whoever is elected S.C. Democratic Party chair won’t only be over an effort to reenergize a party that hasn’t won a statewide office since 2006. They’ll be charged with holding the 2024 calendar’s first Democratic presidential primary.

“It’s really important, given the presidential primary coming up, that we have as much continuity as we can in the party leadership because putting on a presidential primary is not an easy task,” Hodges said. “Christale has the experience to do that.”

Spain’s candidacy also has the backing of many establishment members of the party including former state party Chairwoman Carol Fowler, state Sen. Margie Bright-Matthews of Colleton County, state Sen. Darrell Jackson of Richland County, Democratic National Committee member Kaye Koonce, Richland County Democratic Party Chairwoman Deyaska Spencer Sweatman and Lexington County Democratic Party Chairman Chris McCurry.

Spain, a single mother of a 21-year-old son, first started working at the S.C. Democratic Party as a volunteer, who was frustrated about the lack of job opportunities and public assistance for young women with her level of education and professional experience, she said.

Moving forward, Spain said the state party needs to ensure county parties have the support and resources they need to get voters to the polls, and said the state party needs to better partner with candidates before a general election.

“I don’t think the ship is going in the wrong direction,” Spain said of the state party. “What we have to do is execute.”