Democrats hope to steal House seat in South Carolina

Democrats have started pouring money into the special election in South Carolina’s fifth district, a race receiving little press coverage, in hopes of flipping the Republican House seat to the a Democrat one.

The House Democrats’ campaign arm will spend $275,000 on Archie Parnell, the Democratic candidate in South Carolina’s House special election.

“This investment will help turn out – and provide key lessons on – crucial voters for South Carolina’s 5^th Congressional District and the 2018 midterms more broadly,” Cole Leiter, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesman, said in a Monday statement to The Post and Courier.

The DCCC spent almost twice that much in Montana before losing to Republican Greg Gianforte indicating that Democrats don’t place much hope of winning in the Palmetto State.

The Republican counterpart, the NRCC, answered with just $97,000 in spending showing their confidence that the seat is safe.

A Victory Enterprises Poll shows that Republican Ralph Norman holds a comfortable 53%-36% lead over rival Democrat Archie Parnell.

Parnell has largely turned to identity politics in his bid to represent South Carolina’s fifth district. Attending the “Black Cowboy Festival” and reaching out to black religious leaders aligned his campaign with traditional Democratic Party tactics.

South Carolina represents the last of five special elections held this year to replace Senators and Representatives who gone to work in the Trump administration. Democrats lost in Kansas, Nebraska, and Montana and are hoping for a win in South Carolina or Georgia in June to kick off momentum heading into the 2018 mid-term elections.

The race will replace Mick Mulvaney who left Congress to serve as President Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Election Day in South Carolina is set for June 20.