Black Republicans Vie For Seats

As three black Republicans look for positions in South Carolina's House of Representatives. Marvin Rogers is trying to scale a political hill that few others would attempt to climb: he is running to fill an open State House seat held by black Democrats for more than 30 years. If Mr. Rogers, 32, pulls it off, he'll be one of the first black Republicans in the South Carolina State House in about 100 years. Two other black Republicans, Tim Scott, now Charleston County Council chairman, and Bonnie Adams also are vying for House seats in next month's election.

Mr. Scott faces no Democratic opposition, essentially guaranteeing him House District 117's seat. However, the odds are stacked against both Mr. Rogers and Ms. Adams. They must attract black voters, who are overwhelmingly Democratic.

Mr. Rogers is using strategies from the Democratic playbook to sell his conservative ideas. A former evangelist in Mexico and Nicaragua, Mr. Rogers mentors young men in the same poor Rock Hill community that former presidential candidate John Edwards visited during his poverty tour. Mr. Rogers campaigns in barber shops, a strategy honed by Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. "I'm not going to live in the suburbs and tell you how to clean up gang violence," Mr. Rogers said. "I'm going to live next door, and we're going to work on it together."

Mr. Rogers' Democratic opponent, John King, says the strategy won't work. But not because Mr. Rogers is a black Republican running in a Democratic district. It's because he's allegedly an outsider. "He wants to come into a community and tell people how to do things, and it's an insult to us," said Mr. King, noting Mr. Rogers has lived in Rock Hill for only about two years.

There is another path to the State House for black Republicans, one forged by Mr. Scott in June when he handily won the Berkeley/Charleston House seat. He did it without reaching out to Democrats. "I'm a Republican. I'm always going to court Republicans," Mr. Scott said. "If I can attract open-minded Democrats, that's great. But it doesn't make sense to go after them. It's a losing strategy." Mr. Scott won out over two competitors, dominating in predominantly white Berkeley County. He also outdid his opponents in fundraising, bringing in about $115,000 from the GOP base.