By Laura Haight
DWGC, President

We hear it all the time. I can’t speak for the national party, every other state or even the rest of South Carolina, but in Greenville, we are doing things. Here are a few:

— Democrats have expressed ourselves in very public ways with three rallies and an Empty Chair Town Hall. Each event has drawn hundreds of participants and significant support from the community at large. Public protests are important and they get larger as we go and more people feel emboldened to join in. Dem Women organized an online petition campaign to demand Graham, Scott and Timmons attend the Town Hall listen to our issues, and provide information and answers to our concerns. Two more protests are in the works. Tentatively for April 1 and April 5. Details aren’t yet available but stay plugged in here.

— Dem women is sponsoring an advocacy training by WREN on April 2nd at Project Host. It will not only help you get comfortable with advocating for your issues with your legislators, but there will also be an update on the issues that most affect women in the legislature this year. Sign up: https://DWGC-advocacy.eventbrite.com

— Ukraine and our evolving relationship with Russia is a major concern. Dem Women is sponsoring a virtual conversation with a Mike Roosevelt on March 17. Mike is a retired CIA Russia expert and analyst who will offer his expertise and analysis of WTF what is happening actually means for Ukraine, for the world and for the US. If you missed this, there will be a replay available on You Tube.

— Dem Women is aware of the pain current events are visiting on our local non profits, so we will work with them through the year where we can help. In March, it’s Project Help, a downtown organization that feeds our homeless. We volunteered to help in the kitchen, serving meals, and helping to redesign/replant the garden. We are also collecting canned foot for the organization at our April 14 meeting. You can drop it off at the GCDP office if you’re not coming to the meeting. Helping our community may not seem like a political activity but it is important to see the impact political actions are having and help get our community through it, where we can.

— And last but certainly not least, Dem Women is organizing a summit called (for now) Solidarity Greenville ’26, to bring all our Democratic Community together to take a hard look at the past, the present and our future and begin to WORK TOGETHER on strategies that will be more effective in the next two cycles. We can’t remember any time that an effort this broad has been attempted. This is not public, but we will keep you in the loop.

— Jason Elliot, the first openly gay person elected to statewide seat, has chosen to sponsor an anti-DEI bill (S0368). It is unconscionable that someone who has no doubt felt the sting of discrimination and hate in the course of his life, should support legislation that essentially removes equality from employment in any branch of the state of South Carolina. We urge you to contact Elliot (see the link for his HOME address and phone number) and tell him what a betrayal this is. While it will probably make little difference; it is time that we made lawmakers feel some discomfort for the decisions that they make with impunity.

— Where do you live? There are Democratic groups and activities in every corner of Greenville. Find meetings and events on the GCDP calendar. Exclusive for Dem Women members: One such event is a conversation with Josh Malkin, advocacy director of the SC ACLU on Saturday, March 22nd at 3 p.m. Josh will discuss the impact of federal actions and the state of ACLU lawsuits in SC as well as the status of state legislation. That gives us marching orders for what bills to pay attention to and what legislators to key on for advocacy efforts. Get details here. It is first come, first seated. So plan ahead.

This is just what’s going on right now. But the point is: Greenville IS doing something and you can join us. We hope you will.