Will disgust with Trump help SC Democrats reclaim the governor's mansion this year?

The parking lot outside Saturday's S.C. Democratic Party Convention was nearly full an hour before the event, and most of the cars were still missing campaign bumper stickers announcing a favorite in June's gubernatorial primary.

A competitive, three-way race for the Democratic nomination helped turn out one of the largest convention crowds in recent memory, as voters trekked from across the state to Columbia to hear from all three candidates for governor.

Another boost was an underlying sense of optimism that — with a trio of candidates to pick from, an unpopular Republican president in office and a surge of voters eager to vote out his allies — 2018 could be the year S.C. Democrats reclaim the Governor's Mansion.

"We're winning seats across the country in states where we never thought we could win," said 26-year-old Aiken resident Kelly Youell, noting U.S. Sen. Doug Jones' upset of Republican Roy Moore in ruby-red Alabama and a string of other state and local seats that have flipped from red to blue since President Donald Trump's election in 2016. "It's (people) hating Trump, but also realizing what the Republican Party is capable of tolerating."

S.C. GOP Chairman Drew McKissick doubts it.

"I wouldn't advise them to bet the farm on it," he said. "They might be sleeping out in the rain after it's over with. Their entire message has been built around trying to maintain an intense hatred for the president rather than selling their own message that people in this state would endorse."

Republican lite?

S.C. Democrats long have wanted reasons for optimism.

South Carolina hasn't picked a Democrat for president since 1976. Its voters last elected a Democratic U.S. senator in 1998.

Democrats haven't won a governor's race in two decades, and in 2014, the Democratic candidate for governor suffered the party’s worst loss for that position in 24 years.

State Rep. James Smith of Columbia, Charleston business and technology consultant Phil Noble and Florence attorney Marguerite Willis each are pitching themselves to Democratic primary voters as the S.C. Republican Party's kryptonite.

On the campaign trail, Smith — introduced Saturday with a video from former Vice President Joe Biden and then endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia — has been sure to mention his military service, a key aspect of his crossover appeal to independents and moderate Republicans.

Noble has trumpeted a populist message and his status as a political outsider. He told 1,500 Democrats at Saturday's convention that they keep losing the governor's race because they keep making the same mistake: nominating Democrats from the state Legislature who run a "dull and boring campaign."

"They try to be Republican lite, and what happens? We get beat."

Willis also has pitched her outsider credentials while touting her running mate for lieutenant governor, state Sen. John Scott, D-Richland.

“We’re the only ticket that can win" in November's general election," Willis told The State newspaper Saturday. "The other two candidates haven’t even announced who they’re running with. I’m a white woman. (Scott) is an African-American man. That ticket, if we can get through the primary, is one that folks from other places — not just this state — will support financially.”

'So much frustration'

The choices give everyday Democrats reason for optimism, they say.

So does a "blue wave" they say is coming as Democrats across the state and the nation turn out in November for mid-term elections to drive Trump's Republican allies out of Congress.

"There's so much frustration with how things are currently, said Jack Fincham, a 66-year-old professor at Presbyterian College who said he has been inspired by the March for Our Lives movement. “The young people you meet, they’re informed and involved. That’s a pretty good indication to me that there might be a significant shift underway.”

James Holloway, a 72-year-old retired textile plant worker, said the Republican gubernatorial candidates' support of Trump could come back to haunt them in the general election. Gov. Henry McMaster was the first statewide official to endorse Trump before the 2016 election, while Charleston labor attorney Catherine Templeton and Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant have worked to align themselves with the president.

"My hope is that people would be judged according to the support and blank check they've given him," said Holloway, a longtime member of the Saluda School District's board.

Smith, who will head to Chicago on Sunday for a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, said he has only grown more optimistic as he travels the state on his campaign.

"There's clearly a sense of empowerment, and an awakening that we can change things or we can have an impact on this election," he said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Will disgust with Trump help SC Democrats reclaim the governor's mansion this year?."