YCDP-TV

When we recorded Episode 28, after we finished talking about the upcoming YCDP Convention, Gary asked the assembled Board members to get political for a bit. And they did.

In this episode, YCDP Executive Board members discuss the upcoming Annual Conventiuon, and a little bit about the State Convention. Details on the Convention itself are here on the website.

Here are the basics:

Date: March 15, 2025

Time: 10 AM

Location: Union Baptist Church, 1195 Hands Mill Hwy, Rock Hill, SC 29732 (Newport)

We’d like you to register if you plan to come.That and lots of other stuff on the web page.

When you get down to the level of School Board, many voters find themselves in the dark. School board seats are non-partisan, and the YCDP does not endorse any.

There is a fairly new organization in York County called CAPE (Community Advocates FOR Public Education) that has taken on the mission of getting the word out. CAPE is also non-partisan and education focused, but they do advocate for all students.

They recently participated in a School Board Candidate Forum hosted by - yes - the York County Conservative Club. All but two of the candidates from the four school districts were able to attend. Each candidate spoke for two minutes, and there was no Q&A. CAPE offered a video recording of the event to YCDP-TV, and we’re happy to add it to our podcasts.

And although we at YCDP don’t endorse candidates for these non-partisan seats, we know - and you know - that School Board has become highly political, thanks to some on the far right who have been campaigning to end things like letting kids know that gay and trans people even exist, or that our nation’s history has some unpleasant things in it. They have been running candidates for school board seats from which they launch their agenda on the schools.

Some of the candidates you’ll hear from make their position clear. Some couch it in dog-whistle statements. And some - most? - are really just there for the sake of education. A candidate with progressive leaning can’t say that overtly in this pretty red county and still be elected.

On this episode, Nikita Jackson (YCDP Chair) and John Holder (too many to list) were two of the official Delegates to the DNC in Chicago, and we also have two 'Honored Guests' who also attended: Hattie Ross and William 'Perk' Perkins.

They had fun, they have stories, and at least John has COVID😷.

So, that Show Open thing.... So far, I've just started the shows by sitting in front of the Studio in the Bonus Room... I'm pretty sure that's scaring people away. So I'm asking YOU to help out.

Here's how. Record a 'selfie video' 🤳🏻 at some place recognizable around where you live - city limit sign sign, iconic building, whatever. On that video, say two things:

the town NAME ("Rock Hill", "City of York" (I learned it's 'City of', not 'Town of'😏),

and also say "From the..." and your town name.

Say it a few times with different inflections, like it’s the first thing on a list, the middle of a list, and the last thing on a list - this is 'show biz' technique that makes things sound better when they're edited together..

EXPANDED VERSION:But wait, there's more! If you're up to it, also record the WHOLE INTRO (it's not that long). That way I won't have to be in it at all 😃.

Here's the script:

From York County, South Carolina (then all the 'from Rock Hill, Clover, Tega Cay... gets edited in).... this is the York County Democratic Party YouTube Show and Podcast! We call it YC.. DP.... TV.

If you want to ad lib something more, or something else, well, give it a go 🎭🎬.

If the video file is under 25 MB (probably won't be that small), email it to me at [email protected]. If it's too big to email, use any online storage like Google Drive that let's me download without joining the service, and email me the link.

I'm looking forward to your creativity!

YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson, 2nd Vice-Chair Ryan Stephens and multiple office-holder John Holder are among the delegates from York County and the 5th Congressional District who will be headed to Chicago in a couple weeks to participate in the Democratic National Convention. We talk about what they're expecting, and the big changes in the party with President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing VP Kamala Harris.

Attending the convention is expensive 💰. The state party estimates it will cost each delegate around $4000, and all the expense is on the delegates. So Nikita and Ryan are taking advantage of an ACT BLUE system to accept contributions to help defray the expenses.

The QR Codes in the video will take you their individual contribution pages, or use these links:

Nikita Jackson: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/njackson

Ryan Stephens: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/natldelegatefundraiserstephens

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.