From July through September, as the U.S. Senate race in South Carolina went from contested to competitive, Democrat Jamie Harrison dropped more money on ads than any Senate candidate of either party has ever spent, on everything, in a single quarter. Harrison’s campaign reported an astonishing $44 million in television, radio, and digital advertising spending in the third quarter of 2020, when it also posted a fundraising record, bringing in more than $57 million in contributions backing Harrison’s challenge to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Democrat’s campaign also passed along more than $4 million to the state Democratic Party. They’ve invested […]
South Carolina
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From behind the safety of a transparent shield, South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison on Saturday took Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose seat Harrison hopes to turn blue in November, to task for not being a man of his word. “Listening to Senator Graham…reminds me of playing Monopoly with my son,” Harrison said during his first of three debates in the South Carolina Senate race against the incumbent Graham, a one-time Trump detractor who adopted a different stance once the president took office. “He changes the rules every [chance] he gets.” Harrison reminded Graham, who did not have a plexiglass shield set up […]
Most everyone following the heated U.S. Senate contest in South Carolina recognizes that the opening of a U.S. Supreme Court seat—six weeks before Election Day—has shifted the balance of the race. Which candidate will ultimately benefit, though, depends on who you ask. Sen. Lindsey Graham was already facing a determined challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last Friday. Less than a day later, Graham officially discarded his stance from 2016 that high court appointments shouldn’t be made in an election year—and fully embraced his role as President Donald Trump’s warrior in securing a third Supreme Court […]
A US Navy veteran has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the failure to return his HIV-positive test results from a November 1995 checkup ultimately left him, and possibly past sexual partners, with HIV that went untreated for the past 25 years and developed into AIDS. The suit, filed in a federal court on Tuesday, detailed that the South Carolina-based veteran dubbed “John Doe” was not officially diagnosed as HIV-positive until he was hospitalized in 2018 and told by New York doctors that the virus had advanced to “full-blown AIDS.” The veteran’s HIV-positive status was hinted at by a doctor who […]
As millions of Americans prepare to travel for Labor Day, health experts fear the holiday weekend will cause a COVID-19 spike in areas that are already hot spots—and could determine how the deadly virus spreads in the coming months. To date, 186,834 have died and 6,153,735 more have been infected with the coronavirus, numbers that will only increase as the United States heads into fall—and with it, flu season. In anticipation of the potentially devastating combination of COVID-19 and the flu, epidemiologists and state officials are pleading with Americans to stay home and avoid large gatherings despite pandemic fatigue. “We don’t […]
Ex-governor of South Carolina and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley was among the star speakers on the first night of the Republican National Convention, which will last from 24 August to 27 August. President Donald Trump is set to be re-nominated as the GOP candidate for the November election. Presumably in response to the Democrats’ selection of Kamala Harris as VP candidate, Nikki Haley invoked her Indian heritage during her speech at the Republican National Convention on Monday. Claiming that America is not racist, she termed her Indian identity as an example. “This is personal for me. I am […]
In the parking lot of Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, construction workers have been working around the clock to erect a series of inflatable white and blue medical tents as doctors inside scramble to contain the wave of coronavirus patients. The rural hospital, which serves a population twice the size of Rhode Island, is nearly full, forcing officials to ask the National Guard to erect the state’s first field hospital, comprising four tents to provide overflow capacity for at least a dozen virus patients at a time. While the alternative care site won’t be usable for up to three […]
After paying tribute to the late Congressman John Lewis Monday night, Trevor Noah moved on to a “less legendary political figure: Kanye West, hip-hop superstar and Kim Kardashian’s eldest child.” “Kanye has been promoting a new album-slash-presidential campaign,” the Daily Show host said. “And it has not been going great.” (And this was taped well before his late-night tweetstorm.) From there, Noah played a montage of clips from West’s 2020 campaign launch event in South Carolina over the weekend, during which he openly wept about almost aborting his first daughter and criticized Harriet Tubman for not helping Black Americans more. “This […]
Elise Partin was waiting to see if her governor would take action. The mayor of Cayce, South Carolina, a city of roughly 14,000 people, had heard calls for a local mask order from people in her community and she believed that a statewide edict from Gov. Henry McMaster would prove to be easier to follow and understand for state residents during the coronavirus pandemic. When that didn’t happen, city leaders decided on their own mandate that took effect last week that “masks be worn in indoor places open to the general public,” according to a statement on Cayce’s website. The hesitation […]
Introducing himself as Wednesday night’s guest-host on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Billy Eichner said, “Welcome to another night of entertainment in our disease-ravaged fascist state.” Later in his monologue, the comedian and Lion King star explained that he’s always dreamt of hosting a late-night talk show. “So someday I hope to,” he joked. “Because this is not a late-night talk show. This is like hosting the world’s saddest makeup tutorial.” Among Eichner’s guests for the night was South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, who just happens to be running for Senate against Lindsey Graham. Even the night’s first guest, Amy Schumer, was excited […]
Executives at South Carolina’s largest newspaper asked staff to return to work in the office full-time despite concerns about the coronavirus. Now, there’s a COVID-19 case in the paper’s building. Multiple sources told The Daily Beast that Post and Courier higher-ups have informed staff in recent days of one confirmed case in the paper’s Charleston office. Upon learning the news, employees were horrified. “Disgusted, distraught, angry,” one staffer said, describing the mood. After The Daily Beast reached out for comment, the newspaper’s bosses confirmed the coronavirus case to worried staffers in a regularly scheduled meeting. Some employees would be allowed to […]
Five years ago today, a white neo-Confederate shot dead nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel Baptist Church, located just up the street from where a statue honoring John C. Calhoun—who in an 1837 speech famously deemed the enslavement of black human beings “instead of an evil, a good—a positive good”—has stood for more than 130 years in the heart of Charleston, South Carolina. On Wednesday afternoon, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg announced his plan to send a resolution to the City Council to remove the monument—a move long overdue. In the same speech cited above, Calhoun stated, “never before has the black […]
COLUMBIA, South Carolina—Steve Benjamin, the black mayor of Columbia, was pissed. “Take your asses home,” he ordered. It was Saturday evening, May 30, in this city of 140,000. A day of protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police had started peacefully. That afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at the state capitol building at the southern end of the city’s bustling Main Street. They held signs. They chanted. They sang hymns. But they didn’t break any laws. Nothing burned. What happened next maps onto the experiences of other, bigger cities across the United States. The demonstration escalated, and the […]
Bill Murray is an all-time great late-night talk show guest. He might be even better from home. On Wednesday, the comedy legend joined Jimmy Kimmel from the bathtub at his house in Charleston, South Carolina. The host was delighted from the jump. “If there’s anyone who can shake us out of this pandemic doldrum, it is my guest tonight,” Kimmel said before revealing a fully-clothed Murray, who said he was doing “pretty well” but going through a “funny moment” right now. “I’m drawing my tub now, and I’m having a little difficulty because getting the right temperature is always a problem […]