A mailer that has caused controversy in the Cayce mayoral race

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A campaign mailer ruffled feathers in the Cayce mayoral race, adding additional heat to what was already a contentious head-to-head between the incumbent Elise Partin and Abbott “Tre” Bray, the Lexington County School District 2 board member who is challenging for the seat in the Nov. 7 election.

The mailer, which Bray told the Chronicle he became aware of Oct. 23, features the message “The ‘I don’t like it when you call me racist/sexist/hateful even though I support sexist/racist/hateful politics’ starter kit” and features a Bray for Cayce Mayor sign side-by-side with a Pride flag superimposed with a red circle with a line through it, nuns from the “The Handmaid’s Tale” (a TV show that follows a society in which fertile women are subjugated) and a shirt (emblazoned with the message “Ultra MAGA I’m extreme” in much the same style as the typography on Bray’s campaign signs).

Bray said he was contacted by many of his supporters who received the mailer, adding that he believes all of them had his campaign sign in their yard.

In addressing the mailer with the Chronicle, Bray emphasized he was intent in his public statements to not point the finger at Partin or her camp for sending out the mailer, and he expressed disappointment that the mayor condemned the tactics of the mailer, not the message.

Partin did indeed condemn the mailer, but she also pointed specific fingers about the intent of whomever sent the mailer.

“Clearly, this is all being orchestrated to make it appear that the cards were sent on behalf of my campaign,” she said in a statement, accusing the political consulting firm Bray is using of using a similar ploy in a 2020 county council campaign.

“I strongly suspect he knows more than he’s letting on about where this anonymous card came from. If he doesn’t, he’ll surely join me in calling for an investigation,” her statement continued. “Fortunately, Cayce voters are pretty intelligent, and most will see through this act of desperation.”

Bray pushed back strongly on the notion that he or his team were behind the mailer, bemoaning the state of discourse in Cayce under Partin’s leadership.

“This is municipal politics,” he said. “And if we're doing our job right, those national level politics don't mean a dadgum thing.”

The drama over mailers in Cayce has continued, with Partin posting a Halloween video seated next to a skeleton questioning the source, transparency and accuracy of mailers sent out by a group called Conservatives for Cayce.

The race between Partin and Bray has been tense from the outset, with Bray questioning things Partin regularly points to as hallmarks of progress in Cayce, such as the River Arts Distrct (with Bray saying it’s too close to the industrial area near Frink Street to attract enough development) and the Cayce Riverwalk (with Bray arguing that it’s become unsafe at dawn and dusk due to an increase in homeless occupants). 

Partin has pushed back hard on both counts, arguing that the Arts District continues to see new businesses and that the riverwalk is safe (and that she rides her bike down there at twilight all the time). She has clapped back at Bray for what she has described as unfair criticism of city staff.