Day 8: "Charleston Girl"

Today we went to Charleston, South Carolina. It is about a two hour drive from where we are staying in Lexington. We went to go see the authors of our textbook First in the South: Why South Carolina's Presidential Primary Matters by Professors Gibbs Knotts and Jordan Ragusa at the College of Charleston where they both currently work. They discussed the data and analysis that went into creating their book ad the reasoning for why South Carolina is the first state in the sequential primary elections. We have heard over the course of the week that South Carolina picks the presidential nominees. They have only been wrong twice within recent history. According to the research Professors Knotts and Ragusa presented, South Carolina is representative of its Republican constituents but not its Democratic constituents. I found this interesting because it slightly diminishes their argument against South Carolina's place as first in the nation in the sequential nomination process. Yet we cannot forget that the Democratic National Convention and President Biden chose South Carolina to go first over New Hampshire for its racial diversity. Missouri actually placed first as most representative of their population in terms of Republican and Democratic demographics. None of us in the class expected that. Does that mean Missouri should hold the first-in-the-nation spot and South Carolina should just hold the first-in-the-south spot? Missouri is much less racially diverse than South Carolina despite its Republican and Democratic representativeness. We also discussed what it takes to win the primary in South Carolina which involved endorsements and media attention. The professors also debated how factors one would consider important to win are actually insignificant including how voters previously voted, the quality of the candidate, and campaign receipts. Overall, I learned a lot and will be able to this knowledge to critically analyse the future primaries.

After Professors Knotts and Ragusa presented, Michael Mulé, Governor Ron DeSantis' State Director spoke to our class at the College of Charleston. He discussed his experience working for DeSantis' presidential campaign, what he thinks about the primary elections beginning in South Carolina, and his prediction for the primaries in South Carolina between former President Trump and former Governor Nikki Haley. He explained how DeSantis lost popularity once Trump's indictments begin and his loyalist supporters turned their attention back to him (despite DeSantis having more endorsements than Trump). He also believes that Trump would win all forty-six counties in South Carolina (only time will tell-check out tomorrow's blog for the final reveal). Mulé also stated that South Carolina picks presidents which is a recurring theme thus far of this trip.

After hearing from our speakers, we dispersed for lunch. Maddox, Alexa, Alexis, Eran, Zack, Marie, and I decided to venture off and explore a brunch spot in the heart of Charleston. As I was walking the streets of this quaint city I could not help but hear the song "Charleston Girl" by Tyler Childers lingering in the back of my mind. We had a lovely brunch all together and it felt nice to do something that felt so mundane after a week of madness and mayhem. We then strolled the streets visiting boutiques and specialty shops like an all-year Christmas store. It reminded me of the on in Clearwater: Robert's Christmas Wonderland. Then the most magical thing happened, Alexis found her wedding dress at Altard State. It was so special and joyful to be a part of such a core memory for her. Make sure to check out her blog for her story because it is not mine to tell😉. I really feel like I started to solidify friendships on this trip and as a commuter student who has worked throughout their entire undergraduate studies, there has not been much time to hang around campus and get to know people. So it meant a lot to me to get to make friends on this trip and make/share memories I will forever remember.

That was only half of our day. We spent the other half going to another Nikki Haley event since we had our Nikki Haley interns with us. This was her final rally before election day. It was at a historic boat site and it was the most energetic event we have attended thus far! I got designated by a volunteer named Mindy to be our crowd's area's party hype woman. The volunteers and Haley supporters were handing out signs, buttons, stickers, hats, boas, beads, you name it! The excitement and energy was there. There were news reporters as well and quite the large turnout.