Advertisement
World & Nation

Voting’s a family affair for Obama

By Maria L. La Ganga
Share

You know you’re in South Carolina trolling for African American voters when you find yourself in Kingstree.

The population, according to the most recent census, is 64.6% black. Even the local tributary is the Black River.

Bill Clinton was here recently, and on Thursday morning Barack Obama stopped by to make his case.

Advertisement

The normally buttoned-down, Harvard-educated lawyer loosened up for his predominantly African American audience, exhorting the hundreds of supporters who crowded into the Kingstree High School gym to dig deep into their family trees for Saturday’s Democratic primary.

“Everybody’s excited about this election, but everybody has to vote,” Obama said. “I need you not only to vote, I need you to grab Cousin Pookie to vote; I need you to get Ray Ray to vote.”

-- Maria L. La Ganga

More to Read

World & NationPolitics
Maria L. La Ganga

Maria L. La Ganga is the deputy managing editor for California and Metro, overseeing the Los Angeles Times’ largest editorial department. She joined The Times in 1981 as an academic intern, splitting her time between the former Metro section and National Dragster, the official publication of the National Hot Rod Assn. She has served as Seattle bureau chief, San Francisco bureau chief, edited in the Business section and pitched in on six presidential elections, five for The Times and one for the Guardian. La Ganga left The Times in 2015 and returned in 2018 after a brief hiatus during which she wrote for the Guardian and the Idaho Statesman. She was named city editor in 2022 and promoted to her current role in 2024. La Ganga graduated from Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley and Cal State Northridge, where she studied English literature and journalism.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement