YCDP-TV
The YCDP has a (little) TV📺 and Radio📻 Station! Our media empire!
OK, not on the air🗼. Not even cable🤨. We’re on YouTube video and podcast audio.
The YouTube video is easy to find - our episodes will appear below, or you can go to our YouTube Channel by clicking the link. Click the Subscribe button and the Notification Bell 🔔 to be notified when a new show is produced.
For podcast audio🎧, go to your podcast app and search for YCDP-TV. Or you can listen and download from the episodes below. (Not available on Spotify)
YCDP TV 58: Rally the Vote✅
Seven Democratic candidates — from School Board to Governor — made their final pitch to voters on Sunday, October 18 ahead of the start of Early Voting, in Fountain Park, Rock Hill. This episode presents the full rally, plus a quick look at the all-important job of canvassing voters - that is, knocking on doors and talking to them one-on-one.
At the rally, you’ll hear from:
YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson
Jennifer Hutchinson, Vice-Chair, Rock Hill School Board
Seberina Barber Myles, Candidate, Rock Hill School Board At Large seat
Marina Franco, Candidate for State House Dist 29
Jenny Desch, Candidate for State House Dist 26
Clinton College Drumline
Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee
Chad Williams, Candidate SC SENATE Dist 15 (Special Election to replace Wes Climer)
State Rep John King, Incumbent and Candidate for State House District 49
Mallory Dittmer, Candidate for US House for the SC 5th District (All of York and most of surrounding counties)
Jermaine Johnson, Candidate for Governor
YCDP TV 57: 🚫NO KINGS👑/VOTE✅EARLY
York County joined the Nationwide NO KINGS/VOTE EARLY movement on Saturday, October 17, with a rally on Dave Lyle Blvd in Rock Hill.
Turnout was a little lighter than in the past, but enthusiasm was high as ever.
PODCAST AUDIO. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUR FAVORITE APP
(not available on Spotify)
YCDP TV 56: Annie Andrews Town Hall (and Jenny Desch)
Senate candidate Dr. Annie Andrews brought her campaign to York County with a Town Hall in Fort Mill on Saturday, October 16. Every minute of the Town Hall is here on YCDP TV.
And a Bonus Extra. After the Town Hall, we found SC House District 26 candidate Jenny Desch talking to some folks and getting herself into ‘campaign mode’, so we rolled the camera and listened in for a mini-Town Hall. Two for the price of free!
YCDP TV 55: Fort Mill School Board Candidate Forum
York County School Districts
Our Civics Lesson notes that there are FOUR School Districts in York County, drawn around for ‘population areas’: York (City), Clover, Rock Hill and Fort Mill. Each District has a seven-member Board of Trustees, with four-year terms. Some are elected this year, the rest in two years.
Candidates nominate themselves (in August) — they are technically nonpartisan, and are not part of the Primary process. All qualified candidates appear on the ballot, and voters choose several from the list.
This episode is the Fort Mill School Board Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Reaganites of York County and held on September 27 at the Catawba Ridge High School. Six of the seven candidates participated. There are four seats up for election, with three incumbents among the seven candidates.
There will be another Fort Mill Candidate Forum on October 15 at Nation’s Ford High School. It will be livestreamed on the School District’s YouTube channel
The Rock Hill School District also held a candidate forum, and livestreamed it on their YouTube Channel. We don’t know if the York or Clover Districts have held or planned forums and/or put video online.
NO ENDORSEMENTS… but “a list”
Note that because the positions and election are nonpartisan, the YCDP does not endorse candidates, even though most have some political leaning. The GOP and the radical Mom’s for Liberty group do their best to influence candidates and elections, and this year, candidate preference lists are more public than usual (they are often kept quiet to avoid tipping of ‘the opposition’. So in this episode, we do discuss the candidate preferences we’ve heard about (but it’s still not a YCDP endorsement. We take a little more latitude on the YouTube/podcasts to discuss the political environment than we do on the rest of the website).
We also call out one candidate in particular - Larry Barnett - because local education activists tell us they discovered (and saved) some alarming Facebook posts on his public (at the time) timeline that were either made private or taken down the day after he filed for election. This is still not a YCDP position, but our producer compiled this PDF of the pages the activists collected.
THE LAST WORDS…
The program closes with another host/producer (vanity?) segment, this time focusing on an odd Facebook rant by the Reaganites, the group that sponsored the forum. They seem to have a lot of heartburn about us showing up to record the event on video (without asking first). We assumed that it was a public forum (which it was) and open to media (which, apparently, it wasn’t😕?). A minor point, quickly resolved at the event (we thought), but our routine production requests apparently escalated their annoyance (already pre-established because, after all, we’re Democrats) into a major beef🐄. Enjoy.
YCDP TV 54: Jenny Desch for SC House 26
Our Meet the Candidate series brings us to Jenny Desch, the Democratic nominee for SC House District 26. That’s greater Fort Mill, or Zip Code 29715.
Jenny is currently an Assistant Solicitor (better known as Prosecutor) working in Columbia. She lives in Fort Mill (long commute!), and worked in the prosecutor’s office in York County for almost 20 years before switching to the Columbia office. She grew up an ‘Air Force brat’ in Germany and the Philippines before returning to the states to go to law school and ending up in South Carolina. And though she’s long been a state employee in the legal office, she’s also had her eye on making the laws she’s been enforcing all these years. 2026 is the year to pull the pin on that ambition.
This is a long, in-depth conversation. You’ll really get to know Jenny, and I think you’ll find she will be an awesome State Representative.
YCDP TV 53: Six Candidate Forum
In this episode we hear from six Democratic candidates for office in 2026:
Sylvia Wright, running for Superintendent of Education
Mallory Dittmer, running for Congress
US House in the South Carolina 5th
that’s the seat that Ralph Norman gave up to run for Governor, so it’s an open seat… no incumbent
Jason Belton, running for Secretary of State
Tiffany Boozer, running for Comptroller General
We did an extended interview with Tiffany during the Primary
DeShawn Blanding, running for Commissioner of Agriculture
We had a long talk with DeShawn during the Primary as well
Jenny Desch, running for State House in South Carolina District 26
if your Zip Code is 29715, she’s your candidate
Before we hear from the candidates, host/producer Gary Pearce talks about the two Special Election/Primaries coming up in August and September for some York County voters, and he discusses a vision issue 👁 he's having that's keeping him from attending and recording events and forums. He'll have a partial cornea transplant in early August that will hopefully correct the issue 🤞.
Our thanks to Lacy Layne for providing this video. It was recorded on July 8 at an event called the Fort Mill Forum, but as you can see, five of the six candidates will be on the ballot for all of York County.
Details on candidates, voting and the Special Elections/Primaries at our website: https://YorkSCdems.org
Learn more about 'overdrive' 🚗 from our young friend here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9eynCm824
YCDP TV 52: SC House Dist. 49 Democratic Primary Candidate Debate
Rep. John King and former Rock Hill City Councilman Perry Sutton squared off for a lively debate hosted by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in Rock Hill on June 1. Sutton has challenged incumbent King in the Democratic Primary for State House District 49, which covers most of Rock Hill, and reaches out to the City of York.
The YCDP TV Media Empire thanks YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson for recording this debate. If you vote in House District 49 and you haven’t already voted early (or even if you have), watch or listen to get a good read on both candidates.
YCDP TV 51: RINOs 🦏 Ruin Redistricting
Just a little goofing around for a minute here…
I was enjoying media coverage of the Redistricting FAIL in the SC Senate, and I asked YouTube to find me some stories about it. Most were either straight news coverage, or celebratory posts.
Then I hit this one, with its title about RINOs 🦏 (Republicans In Name Only), with a real crybaby 😭 host who feels like Republicans are entitled to run government, no matter what... because only they know what's best for America? That's the way MAGA thinks.
Democrats are the enemy, of course, but moderate Republicans are even worse. They should know better, but they don't. So sad. Sorry about more Civics lesson. Can't help myself. And that’s Episode 51.
And then I worried that just watching that one Benny Johnson video would take over my YouTube algorithm and feed me Republican propaganda for the rest of my life, but instead it showed me this Daily Show clip about Benny that it turns out I’d seen before. I just didn’t make the connection between that and The Benny Show. Good job, YouTube! Good job, Daily Show!
So I slapped together a few short bits from the show and made another YCDP mini-episode… not even enough to get a full episode number, so I called it 51½/
The Audio podcast has both just smooshed together for your convenience. -Gary
YCDP TV 50: Candidate Bruce Cole for Comptroller General
Meet Bruce Cole, Democratic candidate for South Carolina Comptroller General.
Bruce's list of education and business credentials is as long as... well, I can't bring myself to repeat the cliché, so let's just say it's really long, and well suited for what is generally considered to be a fairly technical position. Good enough, but now get to know the person behind the resumé.
That means we have two highly qualified Democratic candidates for this office. We talked to Tiffany Boozer a couple of weeks ago. It's going to be hard to decide.
Podcast audio. Play here, or subscribe to YCDP TV in your podcast app
YCDP TV 49: Candidate DeShawn Blanding for Commissioner of Agriculture
DeShawn Blanding’s life trajectory has been headed for this - running for Commissioner of Agriculture - since high school, when he was elected President of his chapter of the Future Farmers of America. In this episode he tells us about his extensive career advocating for farmers and agriculture… and for everyone who has a connection to food, such as people who like to eat… while holding positions in and out of government.
Ag Comm is more administrative than political. They don’t set policy (that’s done in the legislature), but they can be a strong advocate. They can’t control grocery prices. DeShawn told us he would favor the office being non-partisan, but at present it is partisan and subject to Republican straight-ticket voting.
Podcast audio: play here or subscribe to YCDP TV
in your favorite app (not available on Spotify)
DeShawn Blanding for Commissioner of Agriculture
YCDP TV 48: Candidate Tiffany Boozer for Comptroller General
When you meet Tiffany Boozer, your first impression is probably not math whiz. Once you get past her name, you find she is young, energetic, outgoing, dare we say ‘spunky’? And she has a passion for… auditing ✏. Didn’t see that coming. If you’ve ever struggled to balance your checkbook (kids, ask your parents), that’s a challenge she would jump at. And as it turns out, she gets to help balance the checkbook for the entire state of South Carolina.
Tiffany is an auditor in the Comptroller General’s office in Columbia, and now she’s running as a Democrat for the top job in that office. She is a CPA, and her platform is competency — she wants to run a professional shop, as a professional. And not as a politician. She would prefer the office be appointed, not elected, or at least be a non-partisan office if it has to be on the ballot. But it’s not (yet), so she’s running as a Democrat.
Turns out the current Comptroller is also a Democrat (didn’t see that coming, either). He was appointed by Governor McMaster to clean up the mess after the previous Comptroller let errors creep into the state’s books over a decade, to the tune of over a Billion dollars (so he quit). it wasn’t stolen, it wasn’t ‘missing’… it was bad accounting. But the current Comptroller doesn’t want to run, and he convinced Tiffany to go for it.
She does have a Primary opponent, Bruce Cole, so for the moment her sights are set on the June 9 Primary. And by the way, we mention in the episode that we couldn’t find a website for Mr. Cole. Well, Google couldn’t find it, but the Horry County Democrats did, and we found it through them.
We enjoyed getting to know Tiffany, and we think you will, too.
Podcast audio: play here, or subscribe to YCDP TV in your podcast app
Tiffany Boozer, Candidate for SC Comptroller General
YCDP TV 47: Candidate Rustin Terry for SC House from Dist. 48
Let’s get to know Rustin Terry
Rustin is running for the South Carolina House from District 48, the Lake Wylie area of York County. Rustin has no Primary competition, so he and incumbent Republican Brandon Guffey head straight to the General Election in November.
Rustin joins YCDP TV host Gary Pearce for this in-depth conversation. He has a web page in the works, but meanwhile reach him at this Facebook page.
Podcast audio: play here or subscribe to YCDP TV in your podcast app (not available on Spotify)
YCDP TV 46: Candidate Andrew Clough for US House from SC5
Andrew Clough is running for Congress in the South Carolina 5th District in the 2026 Democratic Primary. His Primary opponent is Mallory Dittmer. The winner of that Primary will face Republican Wes Climer and Worker Party candidate Andy Kaplan in the November 3 General Election to take the seat being vacated by Ralph Norman, who is running for Governor.
YCDP TV is inviting Democratic Candidates from across the election to come chat with host Gary Pearce, and this is our leadoff interview. All the interviews will be collected in this YouTube Playlist.
Podcast Audio: play here or in your favorite podcast app
(Not available on Spotify)
Check out all of our election information on our website:
Andrew Clough, Democratic Candidate for US House, SC5
YCDP TV 45: No 🚫Kings 👑 3 – Fort Mill-Tega Cay-Rock Hill
The third nationwide NO KINGS protest brought out York County progressives for two events on March 28.
In the morning it was between Fort Mill and Tega Cay at Hwy 160 and 460. In the afternoon the familiar spot along Dave Lyle Blvd in Rock Hill.
Here's a quick review, and a message from two candidates: Mallory Dittmer (running for US House from SC 5) and Pete Martinez (running for SC House District 47).
AUDIO PODCAST - Listen here or subscribe to YCDP TV on your podcast app
NO KINGS sign at the NO KINGS 3 Protest in Fort Mill, South Carolina
YCDP TV 44: 2026 YCDP County Convention
Find the FULL CONVENTION VIDEO and
INDIVIDUAL CANDIDATE SPEECHES
in this YouTube Playlist
The 2026 York County Democratic Party Convention is history, and it was awesome. And YCDP Chair Nikita Jackson was keeping a secret 🤫. Before the convention, we had just a handful of Democratic candidates for the various offices affecting York County. After… every State House office has a Democratic Candidate.
The Convention featured speakers for most Statewide races and almost all local races. It’s a long list, so check the YouTube videos DESCRIPTION area for a time-code index to each element of the event. And each candidate speech is excerpted in this YouTube Playlist and we’ve put them in our Facebook Group
Our Keynote Speaker was JA Moore, Representative from SC House District 15, and he brought the house down.
Too late to be included in the Convention or the video, we received this special greetingon YouTubefrom US Senate candidate Catherine Fleming Bruce.
Podcast audio 🎧.
Play here, or subscribe in most podcast apps
(not available on Spotify)
YCDP TV 43: ICE 🧊 OUT 🥶 for GOOD
This episode contains some explicit language 💣
In a week when Trump invaded Venezuela and ICE killed an activist, York County turned out on Dave Lyle Blvd in Rock Hill to join the nation for another protest.
Meet some of your neighbors, and Congressional Candidate Mallory Dittmer, running for the seat vacated by Ralph Norman.
Play audio here, or subscribe in most podcast apps (not available on Spotify)
YCDP TV 42: 🚫No Kings 👑 II, Rock Hill October 2025
York County turned out in force for the second nationwide No Kings protest, sponsored by YCDP, York County Rising, Indivisible, 50501 and many others across the country (and around the world). We got this video after producer Gary Pearce rushed from his flight from London down to Rock Hill on Saturday, October 18. Earlier, another York County protest happened betweet Fort Mill and Tega Cay.
No Kings protest in Fort Mill SC. Photy by Mark Pfaff via Facebook
You’ve proably heard Republican leadership call this the “Hate America” rally. Just shows how out of touch they are. Actually, they probably don’t believe it… they just feel they have to trash anything we do, especially when it’s wonderful.
Audio podcast: play here, or subscribe in your podcast app
Episode 41: Library Board Punts 🏈 PART TWO
The YCDP TV Media Empire was actually on a mini-vacation up in the North Carolina mountains as we edited Part One of this story, so kind of a rush job and we left a few things out. So here in Part Two, we stuff them back in. That includes a little more history, a little more analysis, and some media stories from WRHI Radio, WSOC TV9, and the Rock Hill Herald newspaper.
Podcast audio is also available in your podcast app
Episode 41: Library Board Punts 🏈 on LGBTQ Books
Listening to their lawyer, the York County Library Board wasn’t ready to institute a new policy of moving books written for children about LGBTQ+ issues, or just including LGBTQ+ characters, from the Children’s section to the Adult section at it’s August meeting. Instead, they will have “continuing discssions” about the matter until… who knows?
The meeting was held at noon on August 14 at the main branch of the Library in Rock Hill. Attendance was limited to 60, with public comments from six speakers, limited to two minutes each. At its July meeting, the Board dropped the requirements that public comments must address agenda items, with three ‘for’ and three' ‘against’. Instead, the public may comment on any issue. The YCL web page has yet to reflect that change.
Podcast Audio also available on most podcast apps
Members of Support YCL arrived early, some before 10 AM, to make sure they would get in and secure speaking slots. It turned out that they dominated the audience, with only a few supporters of the Board’s expected new policy in the room, and only one speaking.
After public comments, Treasurer Dennis Getter reported that the Policy Committee had turned the draft of their LGBTQ+ policy over to the County attorney, and expected to review “partial comments” in the upcoming Executive Session. He said they “have been forewarned about lawsuits and we’re proceeding very cautiously with the correct policy.”
Then Chairman Tim Steele adjourned the meeting to begin their Executive Session, which means the public was not permitted to hear the County attorney’s report or the Board’s discussion, and the audience and media filed out.
Support YCL took the opportunity to take a group photo with the paper Links of Love chain, with each loop representing someone who signed a petition to oppose the draft policy.
When the Executive session was over and the audience was seated again, Chairman Steele reported that the Board took no action. Support YCL members discussed that with some Board members during a break, and learned that the board would “continue discussions” about the policy in committee meetings. No date was set for future action.
Support YCL members draped with the Links of Love paper chain
Episode 40: Meanwhile, Back on Dave Lyle…
UPDATE: After this story was produced, York County Rising, the group that has sponsored bi-weekly protests on Saturday afternoons along Dave Lyle Blvd in Rock Hill, announced a “Protest Cadence Change” (scroll down the Nancy Mace story to find this update). That means that they are ending the bi-weekly protests on Dave Lyle Blvd, but would continue protesting there to coincide with other nationally organized events. The next event on the schedule will be on Labor Day, Monday, September 1.
And they will continue with a host of other events. Leaders noted that other groups may pick up that schedule if they wish.
Meet some more of the activists who occupy a block of Dave Lyle Blvd in Rock Hill ever other Saturday! 2-4 PM. And/or drop by the Indivisible folks at 10 AM Mondays as they protest and drop some mail on Ralph Norman's doorstep. 516 Oakland Ave, Rock Hill, SC.
Also, the YCDP Executive Committee has it's quarterly meeting on Saturday, August 16 at 10 AM, either on Zoom or — for the first time in a few years — in person. Same place we had the YCDP Convention earlier this year. Check your email, the Facebook Group, or the Newsletter for details. All YCDP Democrats are welcome.
Podcast Audio is available in your podcast app (not available on Spotify)
And if you missed last week’s special protest, it drew coverage from two Charlotte TV stations. Our quick summary:
