Harrison holds event in a soy bean field, but he’s not done with virtual campaigning
Democrat Jaime Harrison, who is challenging Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, campaigned in person for the first time since May, something he has avoided with the ongoing pandemic.
Giving a speech from a podium in a soybean field in Rowesville, just south of Orangeburg, Harrison, who has kept to mostly virtual events, said his campaign will plan in-person events as long as they can protect people’s health.
“Yes I want to win a campaign, but my campaign is not more important than the health of one person in South Carolina,” he said. “I wish we could go out and do the barbecues that we do, the fish fries and go to the churches, but we can’t do that right now, because the scientists have told us that is not healthy and not in the best interest of folks.”
Bowman Mayor Patsy Rhett and S.C. Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, joined Harrison where he introduced his “Rural Hope Agenda,” which calls for investing in rural infrastructure, broadband, establishing tax incentives to grow rural communities, and investing in education and expanding Medicaid, among other things. He also called for a farmers’ bill of rights.
Harrison’s audience Friday was a small group of reporters and campaign staff.
Harrison, who recently was diagnosed as borderline diabetic — a condition that could make him more vulnerable to developing complications from a COVID-19 infection — has kept to an almost completely virtual campaign, holding virtual town halls, giving speeches and interviews from his house.
He also has an aunt who died from COVID-19 in July.
Harrison is keeping those health concerns in mind amid a pandemic that has disproportionately affected Black people in the state. According to the Department of Health and Environmental Control, 34% of infections and 39% of deaths from COVID-19 are among Black people, but only 27% of people in the state are Black. Door knocking by Democrats also has been put on hold because of the coronavirus.
Harrison’s virtual campaign has contrasted with Graham’s strategy of keeping a public schedule, speaking at public events and meeting with businesses. Graham’s campaign requires masks at events and follows capacity limits set by the state to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a Graham spokesperson said.
Graham’s campaign had criticized Harrison for relying on television interviews and web-based campaigning. Harrison did speak from S.C. State University in Orangeburg without a crowd on the second night of the DNC to announce South Carolina’s votes. He also attended a drive-by sign distribution event organized by Democrats and held a news conference outside of Graham’s office.
The former SC Democratic Party chairman is in a close race with Graham: both candidates have raised tens of millions of dollars for their respective campaigns.
Harrison said he will continue to follow guidance Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Environmental Control, saying those groups have said it’s safe to open when only 5% of tests come back positive. The percent positive has been consistently above 10% for much of the summer. Thursday was the first in August the percent positive came in at less that 10% when 8.1% of tests came back positive for coronavirus.
“We will do some events. We do things like this as we can, across the state, will go try to visit like we’ve done before, but we will try to do it in a manner that actually works and protects the people in South Carolina,” Harrison said.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 1:12 PM.
