Spain Is 1st Black Woman to Lead South Carolina Democrats
This article was originally published in AP News by Meg Kinnard
Christale Spain, a longtime party operative, was elected Saturday as chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party, becoming the first Black woman to lead the organization in what will be the Democrats’ leadoff presidential voting state in 2024.
Spain was elected during the party’s convention Saturday in Columbia. She takes over in a wave of changes across state Democratic parties for 2024. With her election, and thanks to the party’s recent revamp of its primary schedule, four of the five states in which Democrats will vote first next year — Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina — now have Black women chairing their state parties.
Putting states with more diversity at the top of the voting calendar was a priority for President Joe Biden, who recently moved on his own reelection bid and pushed to move South Carolina — a state where he won big in 2020 — to the top of the nominating calendar.