"R" is for the Reform Party. During Reconstruction, South Carolina's voting population was about 60% African American—the vast majority of whom voted Republican. In order to win elections, Democrats needed disaffected Republican votes. In 1874 a coalition of Democrats and disaffected Republicans supported candidates under the label of the Reform Party. The campaign was dominated by two sets of accusations: the Reformers accused the Republicans of being dishonest, and the Republicans accused the