America First group regains control of Greenville County GOP. Julian first Black woman chair.

Months after the South Carolina Republican Party took control of Greenville County's convention, outgoing County GOP Chair Jeff Davis and his America First group solidified their dominance in South Carolina's largest county party Monday.

Paper ballots were cast and more than 800 delegates voted to elect Yvonne Julian as the new Chair, former County Councilman Joe Dill as the vice-chair and Davis as the state executive committeeman after nearly five hours of deliberation.

Dill, who banded with Davis to challenge his council loss in the Republican primaries last year, was not part of Davis' camp. Nevertheless Davis' America First camp makes up the majority in the leadership team.

Julian, Dill and Davis beat rivals Sam Manley, Julie Hersey and newcomer Camden Gearhart to clinch two-year terms.

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SCGOP Spokesperson Sarah Jane Walker confirmed Davis received 456 votes, while Hersey received 335. Dill received 439 votes in a close contest with America First candidate Mike Voaden, who lost with 402 votes.

Meanwhile Julian won her chairmanship with 438 votes to Manley's 405, becoming the first Black female County GOP Chair.

"Democrats have total political control of the Black community," Julian said. "Too much of our Black community depends on government."

That was one of the many reasons of her transition to a Republican, she said, adding that she blamed massive taxation and globalization for the erosion of the American dream.

Once the election dust settles, Julian will take over the responsibility of presiding over monthly meetings and help vet Republican candidates for elective office. She will also serve as the county party's chief spokesperson.

Dill, as vice-chairman, is expected to fill in when the chairman is absent.

Meanwhile, Davis will now take on the role of serving on the state executive committee, which votes on key statewide issues.

It was almost midnight but several attendees held their breath and stayed on to see if Davis would win his race, especially since he was barred from attending state GOP meetings back in Dec. 2021.

"We are just muscling through and the end result is what we were looking for and actually what we were expecting," Davis said.

But Davis is not sure if this is the end of the power struggle despite calls for unity. "We always have an open door. We do want unity and to work cooperatively against what appears is our obvious single goal, which is to expose the state party and purge McKissick as our current state chairman."

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'Like a circus': Highlights from the Greenville County convention

Questions about rules, state party influences and mudslinging marked the beginning of the convention. Davis’ camp booed any mention of the state party's takeover. Meanwhile, Manley's supporters passed a sheet with a QR code, which led to a video targeting Julian.

For the most part, the room seemed evenly divided until the cacophony grew louder.

The first real sign of where the scales of power tipped came during the election of a temporary president to lead the convention.

Chris Sullivan, a political operative associated with former Spartanburg lawmaker Lee Bright and favored by the camp that opposed Davis, lost the bid to Ray Sheen, the parliamentarian for the Greenville County GOP.

When a voice vote didn't provide clear answers, organizers counted votes in a Kindergarten, split-the-room style voting process, where members were asked to move across the room to different corners and show their support.

On the left was Davis' camp. On the other side stood members who did not like his leadership. Nevertheless, the frustration among the party members was palpable. Several muttered their annoyance while lodging against the wall, some referred to it as a “circus”.

Over 800 delegates cast their vote this year. However, this marked a 22% decline since the last county convention where more than 1,200 delegates ascended upon a virtual meeting to elect their leaders.

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Former County Chair Nate Leupp blamed the decline in participation on Davis' "divisive" tactics. On the other hand, Davis was focused on taking aims at current South Carolina GOP Chair Drew McKissick and said that it was his goal to shepherd a state movement to oust McKissick from his chairmanship.

Right before the convention, Julian and Manley's side got into a war of words over emails. Manley's supporters questioned some of Julian's previous donations to California Democrats.

Julian rebutted in her speech later and said that the donations were from years ago when she identified as a Democrat and that she had donated more to GOP causes.

Her competitor, and former Greenville County GOP Press Secretary Sam Manley, brought up his past experience as a Sheriff's Deputy and said, that though the county party was divided, all the grassroots workers, both old and new, had the same mission.

"I'm tired of the division," Manley said. "I'm tired of the groups. Division doesn't belong in our party. Division doesn't belong in the Republican Party."

Other candidates were of the same opinion. In their speeches, each said they wanted to revive Greenville County's voice in state politics. They highlighted their commitment to elevating faith-based policies, protecting the family unit and fighting culture wars.

One way of fulfilling that commitment was by finding a resolution to the dysfunction in the county party, which began when new members from Davis's organization, MySCGOP, displaced longtime conservatives from leadership two years ago.

Back then, the group tried to rebrand themselves as underdog challengers, often engaging in a war of words with the state party and referring to their members as the "establishment" filled with "RINOs," short for "Republicans in name only".

In rebuttal, the SCGOP Chair Drew McKissick described mySCGOP.com as "a fringe, rogue group that has used Antifa-style tactics to essentially dismantle the Greenville County Republican Party to become their own hobby horse" back in 2021.

With the county convention out of the way, 90 delegates from Greenville County will head to Columbia in May to vote in the State Convention.

Will Davis come through on his promise to dislodge McKissick?

Only time will tell.

Check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: America First group regains control of Greenville County GOP