It was close, damn close; but Lee Turner, straight-talking street activist (Indivisible), business woman and unabashed progressive, came in first, winning 234 more votes than her closest opponent, a 1% difference. Winning a plurality of 29.5% of the vote out of a crowded field of five Democratic candidates, she will go into a run-off election in two weeks against her second-place finisher. The candidate who was expected to win, (having both the most money and the backing from the Democratic establishment), came in third, missing the run-off.
Whereas other winners that night attended receptions in fancy hotels, we were gathered at a less suave venue, Connolly’s Irish Pub. Late at night her campaign manager rejoiced at the good news saying, “Everyone said we did everything wrong, but we won!”
Since I (for one) was also guilty of second-guessing campaign decisions (not enough political signs; signs too small), I replied, “We didn’t need the best campaign; we had the best candidate.” No one could argue with that—except Lee Turner—who graciously said that the reason she won was simply because she had so many avid supporters who did so much to help her win.
Of course, she hasn’t won—at least not yet. When she threw her hat into the ring, no one else had yet challenged the Hillary Witch Hunter, Republican Trey Gowdy, or knew he would soon step down. After he did, thirteen other Republicans and four other Democrats vied for his seat in Congress, making this race one of them most crowded fields of House candidates in the country. All Lee needed to do was to advance from the quarter-finals (the primary) to the semi-finals (the run-off). She didn’t need first place to do that. But she took first anyway.
What happened last night that gave me hope that in spite of the corruption and incompetence of Donald Trump and the Republicans, Democracy as we know it, refuses to die. I had been told Lee didn’t have enough money. Or that she lacked political experience. Or that she was too progressive. Or that no Democrat could win the Congressional Seat held by Republicans.
A moment of glory occurred at the watch party, when someone who had previously told me they weren’t going to support Lee, (because she slipped into the Democratic Party sideways,) changed her mind as did her husband, when they decided to vote for the best candidate, rather than the one allegedly most like to win.
A previous moment of hope occurred when I went to the public library earlier that day to phone bank. By the time I arrived, Lee Turner’s campaign manager was ready to leave. Once he left, I was the only one there. Even the donuts and pizza were gone. After making a few calls, an elderly black gentleman approached me and asked is this was the room where you voted. I told him the room I was in was for the Turner campaign, not for voting. When he went to the men’s room I went to the front desk of the library and asked if the library was being used as a polling place. As I suspected, they said no.
When the man exited the restroom I told him he was at the wrong location, but the librarians could tell him where he needed to go to vote. He said he knew where he could vote, but thought as long as he was at the library he thought he could save some time voting there. Apparently he thought the sign notifying volunteers for Lee Turner’s campaign indicated the library was being used as a place to vote.
As we chatted, I told him I was campaigning for Lee Turner and gave him one of her cards. He was interested and asked me point blank whether or not she was pro-life. I feared if I answered honestly, I would lose a vote. However, as one with experience in sales, my credo was a salesman shouldn’t try to convince a prospective customer that his product is what he wants; but rather should try to inform a prospective customer what the product can do, so he can decide for himself if that is what he wants. So I simply said, “Lee Turner is pro-choice.”
Maybe he was pro-choice himself. Maybe he was pro-life but was impressed with my forthright honesty. All I know is he wanted to talk politics for the next hour and, although I felt guilty not making last-minute futile phone calls, I love talking politics. By the time he left, he had not only decided to vote for Lee Turner, but he even thanked me for sharing my political insights. (I could never tell the difference between flattery and accuracy!)
Then I realized I never really convinced him to vote for Lee Turner. Lee Turner had! He told me she spoke at his black church and he was just three rows back from the front. “I know how to size up people,” he informed me. “She was authentic.” The only reason I “sold” him on Lee Turner was he had already heard her speak. He was already impressed with her honesty and authenticity.
I didn’t realize how important this was until I saw that the second-place candidate was a black male. Out of five Democratic candidates Lee was the only female candidate; and her second-place opponent was the only black candidate. At a time when Republicans are hell-bent on reducing women’s rights and endangering their health (trying to make abortions illegal and destroy Planned Parenthood,) it makes sense that a Democratic woman will want to vote for a Democratic woman. But at a time when Republicans are once again using the racial politics of hate and divisiveness (refusing to address inequities in the criminal justice system and trying to suppress black votes,) it makes sense that a Democratic black man would want to vote for a Democratic black man. The fact that this black man decided to vote for Lee Turner, a white woman, only demonstrates that voters are often smart enough not just to vote for someone like them, but to vote for the best person who can represent them.
Or as I like to put it, “I support Lee Turner, not because she is a woman, but because she is the best man for the job.”
Admittedly there are those who say that even after Turner presumably wins the run-off, she will never be ever to defeat her Republican opponent in the November election. Although Trump won the most electoral votes in South Carolina, the South is changing. Over the years, Greenville, the largest city in the Fourth Congressional District, has gradually become more progressive and less conservative.
So never count Lee Turner out. It’s Turner’s turn.
To watch videos of Lee Turner’s speeches or to donate to her campaign, click here.