Old school campaigning meets new normal for SC Democrat Adair Boroughs
Clad in tennis shoes, jeans and a #mamup Adair for Congress t-shirt, Adair Boroughs began canvassing a Richland neighborhood with three other volunteers Friday afternoon.
Erring on the side of caution, Boroughs and her team made the tough decision not to knock on doors, instead taking the approach of contactless canvassing.
“I just really wish we could knock on doors,” said Boroughs. “We just want people to feel safe and voters to feel safe.”
For this reason, Boroughs, her Political Director Bre Spaulding, Richland District 79 Rep. Ivory Thigpen and 16 year old campaign volunteer Will Forrester, set out in The Summit neighborhood of Richland to spread flyers.
Boroughs said she chose to canvass the sprawling Summit subdivision because it is a priority precinct and still has undecided voters. They began in the Communities of Ridgewood Circle section of The Summit, a neighborhood of middle-class, single-family homes.
When approaching some voters in their yard, Boroughs introduced herself and asked for their vote, but was met with the reaction, “We already voted!” More neighbors down the street said the same thing. In her canvassing, Boroughs said she has met many early voters and loves getting the answer that people have already moved to the polls.
In small pods of volunteers, canvassers spread out around The Summit, taking shifts throughout the day, according to Spaulding, in an attempt to reach as many people as possible. Their #mamup t-shirts are a play on words of the saying “man up” to signify Boroughs’ fight to be the first woman to represent South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District since 1963.
Boroughs has a tough road ahead of her: she faces U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican who was first elected in 2001 to the conservative district that favored President Donald Trump to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by about 18 percentage points.
“I’m an extreme extrovert and I really get energy from people and I love meeting people,” said Boroughs. “You know, Zoom is great but it’s not the same thing, so being able to get out — that’s the campaign I imagined when we launched.”
Throughout the campaign, Boroughs says she has adhered to COVID-19 safety measures and missed the opportunity to canvass until right before the election on Nov. 3. Throughout the week, Boroughs held campaign events in Augusta, Barnwell and Aiken and will make stops in Lexington and Columbia Saturday.
“It’s been disappointing for me, you know I’ve knocked doors for a lot of other candidates and not getting to do it at my own campaign — that’s been sad. But you know, you do the hard work with the hand you’re dealt,” she said.
Friday morning, Boroughs launched the day of canvassing at Rehoboth Baptist Church on Hardscrabble Road where Thigpen is the pastor. Later Friday, Boroughs had a stop scheduled at Sweet Pea’s Ice Cream Parlor in Blythewood.
During the first part of the year, Boroughs was able to include her daughters, ages 5 and 8, in the campaign but lost that opportunity during the pandemic.
“They used to do parades with us and hand out candy and they loved coming to events like our kick-off and stuff like that. It’s made it harder to like have them involved at the same level in COVID,” said Boroughs.
In addition to trying to keep her children involved with the campaign, Boroughs said she had to figure out new ways to include her interns in campaigning when no one was going into the office. Through Zoom “lunch and learns,” Boroughs still created a space for interns to learn about politics.
Forrester said he became politically active this year as a high school student and said, “I just saw the changes that needed to be made in our district and Adair, and thought that’d be a great way for me to get involved and to help make a difference in our community.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 4:00 PM.