Dear Fellow Democrats,

During this unprecedented time in our history, I hope everyone is healthy and remaining safe and in their homes. I write to you as a candidate for 2nd Vice Chair of the Greenville County Democratic Party. You are probably asking yourself, who am I, why am I running, and why should you vote for me, Chris Smith? All good questions, which I answer here in my letter to you.

First, who am I? I have been a lifelong Democrat, I got my first taste of politics when I was 13 years old, handing out fliers for my godfather who was running for Mayor of a small city on Long Island. I worked on many of his campaigns; for County Executive, Governor of New York, and currently he is running for reelection to Congress. Over the last 25 years, I’ve worked on numerous campaigns from Presidential to local races. No race is too small, they all matter.

Currently, I run a political consulting firm called BlueStreak Strategies which is based here in Greenville, our main focus in the firm is fundraising. We also specialize in campaign management, communications, GOTV efforts and targeting for voter outreach.  Fundraising, in my opinion, is the life blood and hardest part of a campaign, ask any current or former candidate.

Secondly, why am I running? We have one of the greatest opportunities to flip districts from red to blue here in Greenville County. The population migration to this area from other areas, as well as registering people to vote is going to be one of our biggest strengths. We need to implement a fundraising plan, without money we have no way of being competitive. I want to bring my expertise to help the party become a major player not only in elections but also in the state party. We can do that with a robust fundraising plan.

There are many other things that we can do to strengthen the party but I don’t want to take up a whole bunch of your time (plus I am only allowed 500 words). We can talk about it once we get back to some sense of normalcy.

Lastly, why should you vote for me? I want to bring the same fight and vigor that I do for my clients to the Greenville County Democratic Party and win elections. We have a historic opportunity to become a major force in local and state politics, let’s harness this opportunity and turn Greenville County and South Carolina BLUE.

I ask for your support, and if elected 2nd Vice Chair, I promise to work my hardest to better the Greenville County Democratic Party. Thank you for your time and consideration.