Sumter residents see Q&A with S.C. Senate 35 candidate

South Carolina Senate District 35, District 36 and House District 64 candidates were invited to the Sumter Branch NAACP on Thursday, Oct. 24, for an election forum. S.C. Senate District 35 Democratic candidate Jeffrey Graham was the only candidate in attendance, allowing the small audience an intimate opportunity to speak with him.

Graham briefly introduced himself and spent the rest of his time answering the audience's questions.

Questions from the audience surrounded how Graham plans to aid rural communities, his thoughts on the constitutional amendment question that will be on the ballot, which Graham called "a scare tactic," and how he plans to further Sumter's transportation.

"Transportation has got to be a part of our rural infrastructure that we need to be working on, and we need to make sure we're matching all those federal dollars and state dollars so that we can make sure our local dollars are matched," Graham said.

One of Graham's main focuses was wanting to provide more funding for rural communities.

"I'm tired of being, not underrepresented, but not represented at all," said Sumter NAACP President Elizabeth Kilgore, who resides in Dalzell, to Graham about wanting to see change in rural communities.

"When we talk about our communities, Lee County, Kershaw County, Sumter County, we haven't been getting our fair share of those funds, and I'm going to fight for that. I'm going to bring those dollars back around because it matters," Graham said. "We're missing out on a lot of money when it comes to health care […] we don't all have the same access, and we should, and we can."

Graham said his goals include furthering the funding of rural communities, improving infrastructure and improving health care.

The election forum was at the North HOPE Center at 904 N. Main St. and was scheduled to last from 6 to 8 p.m., but the forum lasted for 20 minutes because Graham needed to leave early.