Reuters: “Democrats have no chance of winning South Carolina in November, but the state is pivotal to Joe Biden‘s reelection anyway.
Democrats hope South Carolina‘s new role as host of the party’s first official primary on Feb. 3 will bolster support among Black voters. Top party officials also see it as a springboard to an audacious new strategy: retaking the American South in years to come.
The Democratic Party has struggled to win elections in the South since the 1960s Civil Rights era. But spiking migration, opens new tab to the region in recent years and a string of statewide wins in Kentucky and North Carolina, as well as Biden’s nail-biting win in Georgia in 2020, have raised hopes that it can improve, starting with the general election in November.
Despite his poor poll numbers nationally, Democrats hope Biden can this year flip North Carolina, a state that has only backed a Democratic presidential candidate once since 1980, and that the party can also win back a handful of key congressional districts in the South.
In the longer term, they have set their sights on gubernatorial and Senate campaigns in Louisiana and Mississippi.”