Republicans urged to cause ‘chaos,’ vote in SC Democratic presidential primary
When voters cast their ballots on Feb. 29 in the South Carolina Democratic Presidential Primary, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders may find himself getting votes from Republican activists.
In an effort to disrupt the Democratic nominating contest — and push state leaders to close political primaries, which would limit those contests only to voters who register by party — some Upstate GOP activists are encouraging Republicans to participate in the First in the South Democratic Primary and vote for Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist.
The plan was first reported by the (Charleston) Post and Courier. But on Wednesday, another effort called “Operation Chaos 2020” emerged, too. That effort echoes one pushed by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in 2008 when he encouraged Republican voters to vote for Hillary Clinton to prolong the Democratic primary race against Barack Obama.
Encouraging so-called crossover voting, when members of one party vote in primaries of another, is not a move endorsed by the S.C. Republican Party leadership.
“We do not like Democrats meddling in our primaries and we certainly do not encourage the same thing from Republican voters,” state GOP Executive Director Hope Walker said in a statement.
“While there are some groups and Republican activists that may decide to participate in the open Democratic Presidential Preference Primary on Feb. 29, the South Carolina Republican Party has taken no official stand on this matter nor will it encourage our members to do so.”
South Carolina has open primaries where voters can choose which party’s primary, if there is more than one to choose from, to vote in.
But the Republicans pushing their members to vote for Sanders want to change that, saying on Facebook they want to ”point out the consequences of not closing the primaries in SC to just those voters who participate in each party” — a goal they can accomplish if enough Republicans turn out at the polls on Feb. 29.
They also see another benefit in helping Sanders win.
“We want to be able to have a say in giving Donald Trump that opportunity in November to face Bernie in the debate, give a clear look to American voters, here’s your capitalist success story and here’s your socialist,” said Karen Martin, who is the organizer of the Spartanburg Tea Party.
At this point in the race, former Vice President Joe Biden is favored to win South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary and considered to be the strongest candidate to go up against Trump in November, according to polls. Biden has boasted himself as being able to help down ballot candidates.
Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016 for the Democratic nomination and lost in South Carolina primary by 47 percentage points.
Martin denied encouraging Republicans to vote for Sanders has anything to do with trying to put a weaker candidate up against Trump in the general election.
“Nobody I know, in my sphere of influence politically, is concerned about Joe Biden as a candidate at all,” Martin said.
Organizers of the campaign to encourage Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary plan to push the effort on social media.
For years some factions in the Republican Party have pushed for registration by party, but that effort has gone nowhere. Critics note such a move would leave many voters with no option but one to choose from in districts dominated by Democrats or Republicans.
“We have tried many times to explain to our legislators, to the state party, to anyone who would have a hand in it (that) these parties are private organizations,” Martin said. “They’re not organizations run by the state. Private organizations should be able to associate with their members.”
Organizers of this push to vote in the Democratic Primary have also promoted Operation Chaos 2020, a Conservative Defense Fund effort whose website which calls for preventing the strongest candidate from winning the South Carolina primary.
Christopher Sullivan, the chairman of the Conservative Defense Fund and an unsuccessful S.C. House candidate from Traveler’s Rest, is pushing the Operation Chaos effort. He said GOP officials and legislators only pay lip service to closing the primary.
“We’re using this as an opportunity to raise awareness to fact how much crossover meddling goes into in primaries and underscore the importance of why the state needs to secure our primaries requiring registration by primary,” the Republican said.
His website includes a poll to determine which Democratic candidate conservatives should vote for.
“We’re looking for reasons that might encourage a Republican to get off the couch on Saturday the 29th and go vote in the Democratic primary,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also doesn’t share the view that Biden is the strongest candidate against Trump.
“I might have agreed with that analysis before Iowa,” Sullivan said. “My personal view from this point is Biden is going to struggle from this point, even in South Carolina.”
South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson said the open primary is part of the charm of the state’s election system.
“We welcome any South Carolina voters to participate in our democracy, especially those who are dissatisfied and fed up with Donald Trump’s immorality,” Robertson said. “These folks are attempting to cover up the fact that there are moderate Republicans who do not support the immoral president.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 2:21 PM.
