Who’s behind this?

Hello there. I’m Taylor Valley, a Berkeley County Democrat who works on campaigns for a living with my partner Miranda Nichols at Valley Nichols. Where I came up in politics, about half the people at party meetings made their living in Democratic politics. They were known as the “professionals,” and they would share whatever was working for them, like new voter models, a better way to text, or a mail piece that worked. If I ever needed help, I knew exactly who I could call. While we sometimes competed, we were a team.

So I began a journey to try to find the rest of you, my team. South Carolina has great organizers and operatives all over this state, and we found more than 900 of you doing Democratic political work on the public record, but we are not an industry. Many of us go through a primary together and then stop talking. Most importantly, when a good candidate steps up (like so many did in 2026), they can’t find any of us. Try Googling “political consultant near me.”

I am starting Palmetto Democratic Professionals because I firmly believe we will not take power in this state on the backs of activists alone. Those who give us their time and talents are vital to our cause, but they also need support from those who know this work like an accountant knows GAAP.

Frankly, we need to professionalize. The party has enough on its plate, so PDP will start here, by doing three simple things:

1) We will host a directory that puts the state’s Democratic professionals in one place, so a campaign can find the help it needs no matter where they are located.

2) We will host an annual conference and hiring fair. We are planning our first in May 2027, on the Thursday and Friday before the state party’s convention.

3) We will manage a Signal channel for our members, so we can keep talking about our work in the off months. This will be a great place to share and discuss job opportunities.

None of the things PDP does is politics. This organization is only about work and strategy. We don’t care about your position on Medicare for All or what you Tweeted in 2021. I can’t say whether arguing about those things will help us win, but professionalizing certainly will.

I’m just one person and I do not claim to be the best at anything, so I’m looking for a board of five, one for each region of the state and one at large, to help put on the conference. You can read about it at palmettodempros.org/board.

Please put your name down at palmettodempros.org. The next time a good candidate goes looking, we want them to be able to find you. If you know someone who should be on the map, please send them the link, and if you have any thoughts or questions, write me at [email protected].

To me, organizing is a craft, and we (Democrats) don’t teach it like we used to. It is incumbent upon us, the professionals, to get back to the basics, network, and share our skills with those who will come after us. The strength of our candidates, the party, and this state may just depend on it.