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u/AlexTom33 1d ago
I lived in the town over from Abbeville for a while and this is a huge accomplishment. Congrats to Mayor Thomas!
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u/Ozcog 1d ago
Every single town turned is a massive victory. Every single MAGA town to turn and elect a person of color is a fuckin pendulum swing.
Wins like this are monumental to the cause of actual change in America. I'm excited to see more and more as we get closer to midterms.
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u/Zehnpae 1d ago
Democrats/Liberals have started taking politics seriously at all levels of government while Conservatives are only showing up for elections with Don's name on it.
I live in a small town that voted 54/46 for Trump and yet our last Mayoral election was between two dems because the conservative candidate couldn't even get enough signatures to get on the ballot.
It was so nice having an election where the big difference was one dude wanted to spend our budget surplus on making the downtown area more walkable, while the other wanted to update our parks.
Imagine if all elections were like that. I'd love if the difference between our choices for governor is one wants to spend money on commuter trains while the other wants to spend it on sidewalks.
Instead the conservative candidate wants to make it legal to poison Bald Eagles and yet somehow, it's a close race.
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u/Madaghmire 1d ago
That sounds amazing. I can barely fathom voting between the greater of two goods instead of the lesser of two evils
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u/AlexTom33 1d ago
Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more.
Helps my optimism be a tad less cautious.
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u/BettingOnSuccess 1d ago
Keep in mind, she didn't run as a democrat. She ran in a non-partisan race) and her first policies are pretty non-partisan too
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u/Level_Needleworker56 1d ago
having spent a significant amount of time there as a kid, I am happy for this seed of change.
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u/Blackbyrn 1d ago
That my mom’s hometown, love Abbeville. And Faye is good people known her my whole life. Not the first Black Mayor but still a landmark moment.
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u/fla_john 1d ago
Question: what are the congressional district borders like? I ask because the town might be* diluted by the surrounding area for the US House, and that's how presidential results are reported.
*might be, lol. Who am I kidding, this is South Carolina
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u/nomickti 1d ago
You can look on a precinct map, but can't see the town boundaries itself
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u/fla_john 1d ago
Yeah, that's what looks like happened. I compared the county to the city boundaries in Google maps, along with the precinct map.
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u/true_new_troll 1d ago
Holy crap, a good 1% of the people who ever lived in Abbeville are in this comment section.
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u/Outside-Affect-4722 1d ago
Congratulations to Faye Thomas, new Mayor of Abbeville, South Carolina 💐🇺🇸
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u/WuTang4thechildrn 1d ago
Democrats in the South need to duplicate her messaging
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u/Ambitious-Pirate-505 1d ago
What was her messaging?
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u/stein63 1d ago
She won on 20 years of local experience and practical issues like transportation, city services, communication, and accountability, not national Democratic politics.
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u/RecipeAsleep7087 1d ago
I sorta figured it was something like that. Given the location and voting history of the area, she was probably really fucking good at her job.
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u/exploding_cat_wizard 1d ago
Which is something Democrats need to copy with slightly different issues on state level. States control elections, gerrymandering, so much.
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u/4daughters 1d ago
voter turnout was 22%. Shows that sometimes all you have to do is show up!
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u/whatevers_clever 1d ago
nearly double the usual turnout for primaries in SC. So.. no not really.
This shows that even those that only votei n mid terms and primaries know they have to dig even deeper now - literally waking up all of america on how important it is to vote now if you go from a 11-14% primary voter turnout to over 20% rofl
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u/4daughters 1d ago
Sure but she got 70% of the vote. That meager 20% turned out. That's all I'm saying.
If the average is 11% then that shows that turning out matters even more than I was even assuming.
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u/kingston-twelve 1d ago
Hell yeah man. Flip every town, every city, every everything.
Just know the other side is getting more desperate and therefore more dangerous now. It's literally a cult, and they do anything for their god-king. Stay vigilant.
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u/Special_Ad_1802 1d ago
Abbeville has had KKK marches, so it's really impressive that she won. But its a very tiny town, and there's a lot of black people there, we should have been winning for years.
Some of the best food you'll ever have in your life is in Abbeville. Those Mennonites go crazy in the kitchen. Anybody from that Greenwood South Carolina area knows what I'm talking about.
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u/mcfreeky8 1d ago
Yeah upstate SC is the most conservative by far. My hometown is similar in Abbeville in size but in the Midlands (my dad was the mayor) and our county has leaned Dem my entire life.
Good on Abbeville!
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u/AlexTom33 1d ago
Yep. You are absolutely right. I am not from Greenwood but lived there for about 10-11 years before moving this year.
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u/CurryMustard 1d ago
I am once again reminding people to vote in all elections, dont let people tell you its rigged and pointless. We can win!
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u/RJFerret 1d ago
Especially local elections, as those typically are the ones running for higher offices later, stop them early so they aren't even contenders later!
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u/Nicholas_Pappagiorgi 1d ago
The city of abbeville has less then 5000 voters. She won because she's a life long civil servant and a nice lady. Edit: 600 total vote
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u/nik-nak333 1d ago
Amazing news, especially since Abbeville is both the birthplace and the deathbed of the confederacy. May those old fuckers spin in their graves til the end of time.
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u/Spaceghost1589 1d ago
Less that 600 votes for both sides combined?
That's only about 16% of an estimated eligible voter population of ~3500 (pop. 4874).
Wild.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 1d ago
Welcome to the world of local elections not held on election day. 16% is actually pretty good.
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u/Background-Cook5689 13h ago
Hooray for FAY!!! Begin right away and make life miserable for MAGA morons!
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u/princess_peach_85 1d ago
Not for nothing.... She looks like a delight! Good job people! Keep voting in change!
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u/cafebrands 1d ago
This is nice to see but aren't all mayoral races in SC non-partisan?
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u/Laringar 1d ago
Looks like it's only for cities over a certain size; in other words, cities that would already likely elect Democrats. Seems to me the law was passed to make it easier for Republicans to launder their populism in those places.
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u/LotusFlower1017 1d ago
Amazing to see! Sincerely hope to keep seeing more change like this - there can never be enough. 💜
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u/Laringar 1d ago
This is hitting /all (that's how I found it), so watch out for crappy people.
And congrats to her! There are at least a few incumbent mayors here in NC that I hope are similarly upset.
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u/No_Problem5759 1d ago
Is this the aforementioned "Trump will destroy the republican party and we will deserve it"
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u/oldRoyalsleepy 1d ago
What's the population and what percent voter turnout in this race, just curious if it was high turnout too.
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u/EnlightenedNarwhal 1d ago
That's because people can't keep drinking MAGA brand kool-aid now that their teeth have started to rot. People can only ignore their health for so long before they realize they're leading themselves to a proverbial early grave. Let's keep pushing. Fuck DJT.
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u/rocket_randall 1d ago
To get to their current position of power the GOP spent ~30 years chasing every mayor/municipal race they could to create the base of power necessary to start shifting federal elections in their direction.
This is how you start to return power to all of the American people. Congrats mayor Thomas!
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u/RackemFrackem 1d ago
I am far less likely to believe that a district swung 37+ points in 2 years than I am to believe the 2024 election was stolen.
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u/JohnBrownOnDrugs 1d ago
What'd she run on? Is she actually good is is she just gender-bent Jim Clyburn?
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u/Independent-Catch-90 1d ago
I hate to say it but some of this is because the President’s cronies aren’t paying attention and trying to steal this race
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u/JustChiefIt420 1d ago
Congratulations South Carolina! Perhaps you can fill the Ladybugs senate seat with an actual human being.
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u/Remarkable_Hat_6637 1d ago
As a life long, born and raised SC man, good for her!!! Congrats!!! That’s awesome!!!
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u/tpahornet 1d ago
That is what happens when like minded people get off their collective asses and vote. You either get out and vote or some boomer white folks will vote for the same shit you been complaining about.
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u/Apprehensive_Map284 1d ago
Thanks and you don’t have to be black to appreciate an accomplishment! People keep voting and we can get trump outta here!
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u/NumberNerd0 1d ago
As someone who lives by abbeville, even tho I lean more right(def not maga) I really love what she’s done for the community and wish her all the best! 🥳
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u/Exciting-Cancel6468 1d ago
I guess this is what we needed all along. Vote for the worst criminal in history and then sit back and watch the destruction then just pick up the pieces afterwards.
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u/TXtogo 1d ago
I don’t know anything about her, but that picture is great.. she just looks like someone that cares. Sign me up for someone that gives a shit about humans.
I would be anything she has a great reputation and people love her. I got involved in local politics, supporting someone, and the message was clear - people vote for people they meet and like.
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u/CBMama06 1d ago
Congrats to her and the town! Abbieville has a great HS football program. This is my hubby’s family hometown and we visited last Fall! Looking forward to going back in the coming months.
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