2023 Municipal Elections

[vicupstate]

Joe Farmer will challenge incumbent Knox White for the GOP nomination and former city councilwoman Michelle Shain will run as the Democratic nominee.      

At-Large member Dorothy Dowe will face Republican Randall Farmer. 

District Councilmen John  DeWorken and Ken Gibson are unopposed.

 

The GOP primary will be June 13th and the General election November 7th. 

[vicupstate]

If you are a Greenville city resident, I strongly, strongly urge you to vote TOMORROW in the GOP primary.  This is the ONLY race on the ballot and turnout will almost certainly be very, very low.  The Anti-growth crowd is fired up because of the new land management ordinance that is up for 2nd Reading today.  If you want Greenville to continue on the path of growth and prosperity while  still addressing the affordable housing crisis, I STRONGLY urge you to vote to re-nominate Mayor Knox White. 

 

BTW, South Carolina does NOT register voters by party, so if you are a Democrat or Independent, you will in NO WAY impact your ability to vote in the primary of your choice in next year's local, state and national elections.  ANY voter can vote in the GOP primary tomorrow.      

 

[GvilleSC]

18 minutes ago, vicupstate said:

If you are a Greenville city resident, I strongly, strongly urge you to vote TOMORROW in the GOP primary.  This is the ONLY race on the ballot and turnout will almost certainly be very, very low.  The Anti-growth crowd is fired up because of the new land management ordinance that is up for 2nd Reading today.  If you want Greenville to continue on the path of growth and prosperity while  still addressing the affordable housing crisis, I STRONGLY urge you to vote to re-nominate Mayor Knox White. 

 

BTW, South Carolina does NOT register voters by party, so if you are a Democrat or Independent, you will in NO WAY impact your ability to vote in the primary of your choice in next year's local, state and national elections.  ANY voter can vote in the GOP primary tomorrow.      

 

I second this. Thanks for reminding folks! I voted early last Friday. 

[vicupstate]

GOP primary for MAYOR is TODAY !!!

 

[vicupstate]

Greenville City Manager leaving for CAP

This sucks, but at least he is staying in Greenville.  Hard to believe he had been with the city four years.   

[gman430]

Looks like Knox White is going to win this round in a land slide.  

Edited June 14, 2023 by gman430

[NewlyUpstate]

17 minutes ago, gman430 said:

Greenville Mayor's Race-79% reporting

GREENVILLE MAYOR

Candidate	Votes	Percent
Updated: 1 minute ago
WHITE R	1,864	65.04%
FARMER R	1,002	34.96%

A fantastic 6% turnout to vote for a critical position for the future of the city. Lol gotta love politics sometimes

[vicupstate]

[distortedlogic]

1 minute ago, NewlyUpstate said:

A fantastic 6% turnout to vote for a critical position for the future of the city. Lol gotta love politics sometimes

Wow, that's embarrassing. I am glad White got it, he has done a lot of great things for the city. I know not everyone is happy but that is an impossibility.  Now he'll have to beat out the challenger in Nov.

[apaladin]

Still 20 percent of the vote out so he could get all those votes. Oh wait he is not a democrat so that is impossible. 

[vicupstate]

4 hours ago, apaladin said:

Still 20 percent of the vote out so he could get all those votes. Oh wait he is not a democrat so that is impossible. 

Having worked polls personally, and followed precinct results for decades I can assure you there are thousands of instances where a precinct votes 90% or more for the GOP.  

[PuppiesandKittens]

15 hours ago, NewlyUpstate said:

A fantastic 6% turnout to vote for a critical position for the future of the city. Lol gotta love politics sometimes

In this day and age, the fact that people mostly had better things to do than focus on politics is cause for celebration.

I like Knox but do not vote.

[NewlyUpstate]

10 minutes ago, PuppiesandKittens said:

In this day and age, the fact that people mostly had better things to do than focus on politics is cause for celebration.

I like Knox but do not vote.

It took me maybe 2 minutes to vote yesterday. If Farmer would have won this forum would have been good as gone with him trying to stop all development in the city.

Like it or not, politics is extremely impactful on the local level, and if you aren't participating for your interests... well that just means your interests won't be considered when others who show up to vote go ahead and win.

Edited June 14, 2023 by NewlyUpstate

[PuppiesandKittens]

27 minutes ago, NewlyUpstate said:

It took me maybe 2 minutes to vote yesterday. If Farmer would have won this forum would have been good as gone with him trying to stop all development in the city.

Like it or not, politics is extremely impactful on the local level, and if you aren't participating for your interests... well that just means your interests won't be considered when others who show up to vote go ahead and win.

The first paragraph is overstating things.  The Greenville mayor is largely ceremonial, as the city has a “council-manager” form of government.  The mayor is similar to King Charles III or Kamala Harris:  more just a warm body filling a seat, without much power.  Most people in Greenville clearly have better things to do than, you say, spending two minutes devoted to that. And having been heavily involved in party politics, I’ve learned that the only person with whom I agree on everything is me.

Edited June 14, 2023 by PuppiesandKittens

[NewlyUpstate]

I understand how Greenville government decisions are made, but the mayor has a massive influence on what gets put in the press and swaying the public opinion for things. 

There's a number of things that would not have gotten approved over the past many years without the influence and public appeal that White has brought to the position.

Also, the mayor is a voting member of city council and is often a tie breaker. Calling him powerless is pretty crazy.

Edited June 14, 2023 by NewlyUpstate

[PuppiesandKittens]

22 minutes ago, NewlyUpstate said:

I understand how Greenville government decisions are made, but the mayor has a massive influence on what gets put in the press and swaying the public opinion for things. 

There's a number of things that would not have gotten approved over the past many years without the influence and public appeal that White has brought to the position.

Also, the mayor is a voting member of city council and is often a tie breaker. Calling him powerless is pretty crazy.

We can hopefully agree to disagree.  I’m just glad that most people simply do not care about politics.  The fact that a huge majority of people don’t care about government enough to spend two minutes voting shows that things are going well, in that people aren’t upset about the current situation and government isn’t too intrusive on people’s lives.  And one developer can have much more of an effect in Greenville than any local official can.

Edited June 14, 2023 by PuppiesandKittens

[Danmire]

Apathy is the biggest threat to Democracy.  

[vicupstate]

21 minutes ago, PuppiesandKittens said:

The first paragraph is overstating things.  The Greenville mayor is largely ceremonial, as the city has a “council-manager” form of government.  The mayor is similar to King Charles III or Kamala Harris:  more just a warm body filling a seat, without much power.  Most people in Greenville clearly have better things to do than, you say, spending two minutes devoted to that. And having been heavily involved in party politics, I’ve learned that the only person with whom I agree on everything is me.

You literally know nothing about this topic. 

Here's a hint: White is a lawyer and no doubt a well paid one. His mayor's salary is peanuts by comparison. Yet he spends probably 40-100% as much time on mayoral duties as his law practice.  Why would he do so, if he had no power to affect anything?     

The 'Manager' is selected by the council of which the Mayor is a voting member.  The council does his annual review and sets his salary.  Do you honestly think that if the manager got a call from the Mayor on some item, he would blow it off?  I assure you he would make it his first priority.  

The Mayor ALWAYS has an oversized role in what the council does and prioritizes.  That is the case even more so when the mayor has the level of experience White has.  The manager makes sure the trains run on time, but the mayor and council set the budget and decide what 'trains' will even run and how often. He can be fired at their discretion at any time.  

But for mayor White, the Woven project would be dead. The corner of Butler and Buncombe would be a Sphinx instead of a Cook's Station and Unity Park would not have been built.  I very seriously doubt the County Square redevelopment would have happened either. The mayor is always involved in major negotiations such as those in conjunction with the manager.  There are other examples but those are some of  the ones that come right to mind. 

---

BTW, King Charles is actually extremely  powerful, he simply chooses not to exert that power.  Parliament derives its power from him, not the other way around. Now that said, if King Charles did exert his powers, all hell would break loose. But technically he is the seat of power. He also has audience with the Prime Minister regularly, which is something few people have, thus that is a power in itself.  

[PuppiesandKittens]

1 hour ago, vicupstate said:

You literally know nothing about this topic. 

Here's a hint: White is a lawyer and no doubt a well paid one. His mayor's salary is peanuts by comparison. Yet he spends probably 40-100% as much time on mayoral duties as his law practice.  Why would he do so, if he had no power to affect anything?     

The 'Manager' is selected by the council of which the Mayor is a voting member.  The council does his annual review and sets his salary.  Do you honestly think that if the manager got a call from the Mayor on some item, he would blow it off?  I assure you he would make it his first priority.  

The Mayor ALWAYS has an oversized role in what the council does and prioritizes.  That is the case even more so when the mayor has the level of experience White has.  The manager makes sure the trains run on time, but the mayor and council set the budget and decide what 'trains' will even run and how often. He can be fired at their discretion at any time.  

But for mayor White, the Woven project would be dead. The corner of Butler and Buncombe would be a Sphinx instead of a Cook's Station and Unity Park would not have been built.  I very seriously doubt the County Square redevelopment would have happened either. The mayor is always involved in major negotiations such as those in conjunction with the manager.  There are other examples but those are some of  the ones that come right to mind. 

---

BTW, King Charles is actually extremely  powerful, he simply chooses not to exert that power.  Parliament derives its power from him, not the other way around. Now that said, if King Charles did exert his powers, all hell would break loose. But technically he is the seat of power. He also has audience with the Prime Minister regularly, which is something few people have, thus that is a power in itself.  

I’ve known Knox White since the 1980s, and I even helped on his Congressional campaign in the 1980s, and I’ve even sat in on City Council meetings since the 1980s.

He is retired from his law practice, contrary to your post.  

No need to insult people.  I am not going to respond to you further.  I’ll let any native Britons respond about King Charles, other than to say that your statements about his power are completely wrong.  Powers granted to someone in the Middle Ages but not used since the 1700s don’t count, FYI.

Edited June 14, 2023 by PuppiesandKittens

[GvilleSC]

MAYBE they're trying to say that the general public not being required to be consumed by politics (due to scandal and controversy that would generate headlines) must indicate that things are going well in Greenville? Truly don't know.

However, if that is the case, then I'd like to point out that things are going well in Greenville as a result of continuity of leadership and vision. Choosing not to vote runs the risk of bringing an end to that continuity and disrupting a good thing that we have going. Complacency is dangerous. Take your vote seriously whether you're voting with me or against. 

[PuppiesandKittens]

13 minutes ago, GvilleSC said:

MAYBE they're trying to say that the general public not being required to be consumed by politics (due to scandal and controversy that would generate headlines) must indicate that things are going well in Greenville? Truly don't know.

However, if that is the case, then I'd like to point out that things are going well in Greenville as a result of continuity of leadership and vision. Choosing not to vote runs the risk of bringing an end to that continuity and disrupting a good thing that we have going. Complacency is dangerous. Take your vote seriously whether you're voting with me or against. 

Your points are valid.  I don’t see that any of the anti-planning candidates (Joe Farmer or Paula Fulghum) have or had any chance; simply being a complainer, particularly with seemingly zero relevant experience, taking on a popular incumbent, doesn’t make a successful candidate.  I for one don’t care for chronic complainers.

But I will acknowledge that your statements are reasonable and sensible.

Edited June 14, 2023 by PuppiesandKittens

[vicupstate]

26 minutes ago, PuppiesandKittens said:

Your points are valid.  I don’t see that any of the anti-planning candidates (Joe Farmer or Paula Fulghum) have or had any chance; simply being a complainer, particularly with seemingly zero relevant experience, taking on a popular incumbent, doesn’t make a successful candidate.  I for one don’t care for chronic complainers.

But I will acknowledge that your statements are reasonable and sensible.

Thanks. The mayor of my hometown, Florence, a two term incumbent that had done a very good job IMO,  lost re-election by 1 vote several years back.  

[NewlyUpstate]

Found it very interesting how closely White's and Dowe's vote number split turned out.  Instead of a typical partisan battle, this election seemed to really end up to be more like a status quo versus slow development type race.  Also, for the amount of money spent on this election, the turn out numbers seem miniscule.