Day 7: State House tour - Rep Micah Caskey & Rep Mike Neese, last day at the SCDP, & turning SC purple

We started the morning off with our typical morning seminar and breakfast then headed to the State House! I have been to the Florida Capitol several times but I was so excited to visit South Carolina's. It was absolutely beautiful. The main colors of the rooms, walls, and ceilings were teal and a dark rose. The colors complemented each other so well. The furniture was of wood and navy leather. There was a skylight on the second floor that splits into the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives. The history behind the building was fascinating. It was originally built by slaves, construction was halted, and then it was completed in the early 1900s. Representative Micah Caskey (R) of Lexington County and Representative Mike Neese (R) of Lancaster County spoke to us while we visited the House of Representatives. They were laid-back, answered all of our questions, and had some interesting perspectives to provide during their time as Representatives. For example, for Representative Caskey was discussing how sometimes it is your job to vote for what your constituents want rather than what you want to retain your seat for future elections. This did not necessarily shock me as I have heard of this before, but it was thought-provoking to hear it directly from a representative. Afterwards, we sat in the Senate's session where they were going over a bill. Then we headed to the gift shop for a few goodies. I purchased a deck of cards with South Carolina's flag on it, a postcard of the Governor's Mansion, and a sticker.

Then we had a picnic at a riverfront park where we got to sit by the water and listen to the ripples of water. As a Floridian, I felt at home. The sound of the water soothed me and it made me miss being in proximity to the beach. It was nice to get a reprieve in nature.

Then we went back to the South Carolina Democratic Party Headquarters where Jermaine Johnson talked to us about how he became a Representative of district 70 (Richland County). I was so inspired by his speech. He came from a tough and precarious background, but he still became successful. Yet it was not an easy rise to fame. He was a homeless college student and I could not help but empathize with how lonely he must have felt when everyone was going home to their families and he was spending time alone in a dorm room. He had mentioned that when discussing his time playing basketball at the College of Charleston, and it saddened me greatly. But he became involved with his community after playing basketball professionally and enduring the loss of multiple close relatives. His perseverance and compassion to still help his community after all of his pain speaks so highly of his character. He was definitely one of my favorite speakers on this trip, if not, my favorite. We continued doing data work and phonebanking for the SCDP after. Then Moses, Alexa, Nathan, and Steven presented a project to us to uplift the Hispanic and Black communities in South Carolina to help engage youth voters and turn the state purple.

We came back to the hotel and worked on this project. I chose to work on the candidate selection team in which I used the platform Vote Builder to narrow down frequent voters by county and by ethnicity (in this case Hispanic). We are trying to find community leaders who could potentially hold positions of power for the South Carolina Democratic Party.