Actor Jeffrey Wright to address S.C. Democrats’ annual fundraiser

Actor Jeffrey Wright will be the keynote speaker of the South Carolina Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser next week.

The party announced Saturday that Wright will deliver the address at Friday’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at the Columbia Convention Center. It will be the last time the fundraiser will go by that name.

Wright has won a Tony, an Emmy and a Golden Globe and appeared in more than 35 films, including “The Hunger Games,” “Basquiat,” “Syriana,” “The Ides of March,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”

“We are excited to welcome a Renaissance man like Jeffrey Wright to South Carolina to hear why he is supporting Democrats up and down the ballot this year,” SCDP Chair Jaime Harrison said. “Through his skilled portrayal of diverse characters throughout his illustrious career, he has helped us see the humanity in one another. Our politics must translate this insight into action that advances our society.”

The party’s events will continue Saturday with an issues conference.

Last month, its executive committee voted to rename the fundraiser, starting next year. It’s been called the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner since 1987. The vote made South Carolina’s Democratic Party the latest to distance itself from slave-owning presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, who are considered the party’s founders.