Have you participated in any of those mass Zoom calls.... events.... in support of VP Kamala Harris' run for President? Your producer (Gary) hasn't, but Nile, Monica and Pat have. They talk about the experience and the energy that built so quickly after President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.

Evangeline Hundley launched her campaign for US House from the South Carolina 5th Congressional District (including all of York County) with a party at the Mercantile in Rock Hill on June 12, the day after the Republican Primary. Matt Vilardebo, candidate for SC House from Fort Mill (District 26) introduced her.

Hundley did not have a Primary opponent, so moves directly to the November 5th General Election, once again facing off against incumbent Republican Ralph Norman.

This is Hundley’s second run at the office. Norman defeated her in 2022, her first attempt at any political office. She comes at this second try with a much better idea of what it takes to run a campaign for Congress, and strong support from the YCDP.

She has a series of videos and commercials lined up on her YouTube Channel, along with a website and Facebook page.

The South Carolina Democratic Party Convention was held on May 18 in Columbia. The YCDP sent over 60 delegates. Our job was to approve rules and a platform, and elect some of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer. YCDP will send several delegates and alternates to that convention.

In this program, we talk to several of the delegates from York County and the rest of the state to get a feeling for what the convention means to those attending. Then we drop in on each stage of the convention itself… but we’re not trying to present the whole thing. That lasted over 4 hours, but was conducted pretty efficiently in that relatively short time. As far as we know, the complete convention was not recorded, so the minutes are the official record.

You're listening to the audio as lifted from the video presentation. We think you'll be able to follow along pretty well. Most of the speakers are identified verbally, a few are not. The event was held in a large gymnasium on the campus of Benedict College in Columbia. And frankly, you wil have a better acoustic experience than those in attendance – they had a kind of echoy, somewhat muffled experience... unless they were seated in the first few rows, in which case their hearing should be slowly recovering at this time 👂🏻.

March 16 was the first day that candidates for the ‘down ballot’ offices in South Carolina could file for the June 11 Primary. The YCDP-TV production crew (just me - Gary) headed out to the Government Building in the County Seat (the Town of York) to catch the action.

I was going to meet Matt Vilardebo – Matt was filing to make his second run at the SC House in District 26 (Fort Mill area). I expected a quiet exchange down in the elections office in the basement. Fill out some forms, pay a fee, hit the road.

Instead, I found a pretty Big Deal. The elections office set up tables in the lobby, and the lobby was full of candidates (all Republicans), all there to get filed on Day One. So was Matt.

I followed him through the process, and we did a few quick interviews as thing went along.

I also talked to Alan Helms, York County’s Voter Registration & Elections Director who was overseeing the whole thing. And I talked to Republican Watts Huckabee, who was there to file for his second tour with the York County Council (his first full tour - he was appointed to fill the remaining term of Brandon Guffey, who moved up to the SC House in 2022.

While Matt notes that he was the only Democrat at the First Day ceremonies, fiing is open until noon on April 1. We are hoping that several other Democrats will step up to challenge some of the Republican inclubents. If you decide to do that, you’ll get some YCDP-TV coverage, too!

Candidates filing from now until the April 1 deadline won’t get the royal treatment in the lobby… you’ll get that quiet exchange down in the basement.

One more thing: we’ve worked hard at getting the YCDP website’s Voting in York County and Meet the Candidates pages up to date. Stop by often to learn about the process and the people that make up the 2024 election.

The YCDP held our 2024 Convention on Saturday, March 9 in Rock Hill. Officers were elected, Matt Vilardebo was introduced as candidate for SC House from District 26, several Resolutions were passed (and sent to the SCDP), and our keynote speaker was Carol Fowler from the SCDP and Richmond County Democratic Party. And it’s all here on our YouTube Channel!

The video at our YouTube Channel has an extensive time-coded INDEX to all the activity at the Convention to make it easier to zero in on whatever you want to review.

Student debt relief isn’t just a headline. It impacts real people, many of them here in York County. And in this episode, we’ll meet two of them.

Mary Long is a retired mother of two, and took on a buden of debt to put her kids through college, an opportunity she never had. But a series of plant closings left her unemployed for a time, while the interest on that debt kept mounting. Kizmet Moore put herself through college, including a Master’s Degree, but the cost was staggering. Both had the balance of their loans forgiven by the Biden Administration, relief that changed their lives.

YCDP 2nd Vice Chair Milissa Rouse takes over the interview chair for this show, with moral support from Chair Nikita Jackson and 3rd Vice Chair Amber Pearson-Bowen. Producer Gary Pearce got to sit back and push the buttons.

Note that Mary relates her positive experience with a company called ABS (A Better Solution). They consolidated student debt and structured a more feasible payment plan for many. Others accused them of being a scam. We found stories of investigations, but no results or charges. In any case, it appears the company is out of business

YCDP TV is a YouTube show and audio podcast, produced by the York County (SC) Democratic Party. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, or the podcast in your podcast app.

Matt Vilardebo has announced his second run for SC House District 26 which covers the Fort Mill area in York County. This year, incumbent Republican Raye Felder has announced that she is not running for reelection, making the seat wide open, and a better chance to flip Democrat.

At this point, Matt is the only candidate to declare for this seat in the Democratic Primary (to be held June 11). The deadline for filing is April 1st (and filing doesn’t even begin until March 16th), so most offices up for reelection this year don’t have declared candidates yet.

The YCDP does not endorse candidates in the Primary, but we will cover all bona fide candidates. Contact us at 📞(803) 327-4222.

YCDP Website: https://YorkSCdems.org

The First in the Nation Democratic Presidential Preference Primary is over. The media have moved on. South Carolina had its moment in the spotlight.

But for us here in York County, it’s worth taking time to reflect and review what it was all about, and what it meant to us. The outcome wasn’t a surprise, and we expected a low turnout. But was it ‘good enough’?

Joining us are YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson, 3rd Vice Chair Amber Pearson-Bowen, and one of our representatives on the SCDP Executive Committee (and our institutional memory) John Holder. This is the first time on the show for Amber and John.

We also talk about the June Primary for all the other offices up for election, the upcoming YCDP Convention, and what it takes to be chosen to attend the State and National Conventions. And we’ll play some of the Saturday Night Live ‘cold open’ with the surprise cameo from candidate and former SC Governor Nikki Haley.

Our host and producer is Gary Pearce.

website: https://YorkSCDems.org

Wes Climer is the Republican State Senator from District 15 in York County.

On February 1, 2024, he presented a 'Town Hall' on his Facebook page, talking about some of the issues before the state Senate and taking a few questions. The session ran about 30 minutes. We edited that down to a 4- minute synopsys, without any editorial comment of our own, just to give you an idea of what he had to present.

It will be kind of choppy, without a transition between topics, but we think you can follow along. You can see the full session here: https://www.facebook.com/wesclimersc/

Don’t look now, but it’s election season 👀. South Carolina is host to the First in the Nation Democratic Party Presidential Preference Primary on Fegruary 3rd. That’s First, plus or minus New Hampshire just ignoring the DNC’s mandate (but without Joe Biden on the ballot 😮). And the RNC sticking to their traditional calendar and voting three weeks later in February, well after Iowa and New Hampshire. 🙄

The Primary calendar is complicated by all that, and the effect it has on early voting. And the third Primary date in June for all the other offices on the ballot. Perhaps you’d like some help.

To the rescue rides YCDP’s new Chair, Nikita Jackson, joining host Gary Pearce to review the calendar and all the options in detail. They’re picking their data from the YCDP web page Voting in York County, so you can go there to review all the info they give you. But the show is kind of a fun romp… anything but dry and dusty.

This is Nikita’s first visit to YCDP-TV. And ‘visit’ isn’t the right word. As Gary says, “I feel like I’m welcoming you into your own home.”

When this Primary is done, you can catch your breath. The action will move to a few other states, and only the cable news channels will be doing wall-to-wall politics. Oh, and us. We’ll be watching to see who enters the state and local races ahead of that June Primary. So settle in.