SPARTANBURG — A coordinated effort between Greenville and Spartanburg Democrats hoped to energize upstate voters and shake the longtime Republican stranglehold on the region.

The effort, doubled Priority sixidentified absentee voters in recent elections and targeted 11 strategic races with hopes of flipping some red seats.

That Democrats across the country and in South Carolinawhere the GOP gains gave Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the Senate for the first time in a century, upstate Democrats were unsuccessful.

All 10 Democrats who challenged Republicans lost, and each Republican beat their Democratic challenger by more than 20 points, according to the data unofficial election results from Wednesday.

At the top of the effort ticket, Kathryn Harvey challenged U.S. Rep. William Timmons, but lost by about 23 points.

But during his concession speech Tuesday night, Harvey — who also leads the Spartanburg County Democrats — said the movement was just getting started and wasn’t going anywhere.

“We have a lot to fight for,” Harvey said. “We’re going to be at it every day, all day, until these places flip, and you have my word for it.”

Despite Harvey’s hopeful tone, her efforts hardly moved the needle in her race.

If the unofficial numbers hold, the loss would be only slightly closer than Timmon’s 25-point victory over the Democratic challenger in 2020 and around the same margin in 2018. He was uncontested in 2022.

Harvey, the best-known effort candidate, has renewed excitement around the race and raised more moneyy than any recent Democratic rival, just over $480,000, according to public finance data covering until mid-October.

Upstate Democrats blamed headwinds facing Democrats nationally and also said voter education and turnout could be better. The losses have disappointed party leaders, but they are clear about the harsh reality and said there is more to do.

“We knew we might not win anything this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to try,” said Amanda McDougald Scott, chairwoman of the Greenville County Democratic Party.

Democrats find advantages in blowout losses

Recruiting candidates to challenge incumbent Republicans in the ruby-red upstate was already a victory for Democrats, party officials said. Without the effort, more Republicans would have gone unchallenged in November.

Greenville County Republican Party Leader Yvonne Julian said Democrats challenging Republicans help her party distinguish Republican candidates.

“(Democrats) had candidates, which I’ll give them credit for because it’s hard work to find people to run who aren’t seasoned politicians,” Julian said. “But we haven’t seen any evidence that they’ve been able to galvanize or motivate voters.”

Democrats disagree with Julian on voter mobilization. Phil Ford, a consultant hired to help Priority Six, said Democrats have laid the groundwork for future opportunities.

He pointed to a slightly better performance by Democrats in SC House District 33. A Democrat hasn’t contested the seat in a decade, and the Democrat won this year. six points more than last time.

Ford also said the new election allowed upstate Democrats to clean up their voter data to better prepare them for next time.

David Petty, first vice chairman of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party, said data has become increasingly important in politics. Without candidates, it’s hard to gather new information about who and how people voted.

“We got a lot of data from our conversations with voters, how they lean, who they support, what issues are important to them,” Petty said. “Over the next few months, we’ll start looking at this and putting it into our own database for the next election.”

Upstate Democrats are gearing up for the upcoming election

Scott, the leader of the Greenville County Democrats, said candidates and volunteers must be ready to work.

Despite the heavy losses, party leaders did not believe the uneven margins would hinder the recruitment of future candidates. They said they were straight with them to begin with as it would be a difficult job to flip the red chairs.

Voter education and communication was also a focus. Scott said some voters were unaware of conservative state laws such as abortion restrictions. Ford added that Democrats will have to focus on pocketbook issues and convince voters. Democratic policies will improve lives.

He also mentioned the success of North Carolina Democrats. The state voted for Trump but still elected a Democratic governor and broke the Republican supermajority in the state Legislature.

“We’ve seen them split the tickets (in North Carolina) and we’ve got to find that secret sauce,” Ford said.

At the end of the day, many just thought that the national Democratic losses were hard to overcome in the wake of the vote. Vice President Kamala Harris is on the right track lose all seven swing states and the popular vote. Republicans even made gains in deep blue states like New Jersey.

Harvey lost to Timmons by about 23 points in a much tighter Democratic environment than when he beat his Democratic rival by the same margin in 2018, when the national climate favored Democrats.

Scott said he hopes the same type of blue wave will reappear in 2026, after two years of President-elect Donald Trump in office. She said the effort was a long-term process. In the meantime, she said the party would get down to business for the future.

“I think it’s possible that in the next couple of years, when people get tired of Trump, there’s going to be a very different attitude in the country,” Scott said.