Bakari Sellers meets OC Democrats

Seller A 29-year old state lawmaker from what’s called South Carolina’s “Corridor of Shame” introduced himself Saturday to Oconee County Democrats and outlined a platform that he hopes will land him as the state’s next lieutenant governor. Rep. Bakari Sellers was featured speaker at the 2014 Oconee Democratic Convention. The Corridor of Shame is the moniker for a region, of which Sellers’ home county of Bamberg is part, known for a quality of public education below that of the rest of the state. And Sellers confided that improving education is a one of his top goals. So is spending more money to repair South Carolina roads and bridges, though Sellers was questioned about his stance against raising the state’s gas tax—which has remained 16 cents a gallon since the late 1980s. For Sellers, there’s a self-acknowledgement that, in a state dominated by Republican politics, an uphill battle awaits. He hopes fellow Democrat Vincent Sheheen will be elected governor—even though South Carolinians haven’t elected a Democratic governor in 25 years. And not since Reconstruction has an African-American been elected to a statewide office. Sellers, an African-American, wants to change that.