With three years to go before the next presidential nominating contest, South Carolina on Friday felt like an election year.
In the capital city, Democrats kicked off the state party's convention weekend with a fundraiser and Congressman Jim Clyburn's "world famous" fish fry that featured two governors with rising profiles.
Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Tim Walz of Minnesota, the party's 2024 vice president nominee, traveled to the early-voting primary state to speak to loyal Democratic voters who will help decide the party's next nominee in 2028.
"It's a political homecoming weekend for South Carolina Democrats," said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist based in South Carolina. "It's a chance for us to revive ourselves, reengage ourselves and recommit ourselves to the cause."
Moore said Friday he does not intend to run for president.
"I've been very clear that, first, that I know I'm not running," Moore told reporters at Clyburn's fish fry. "But the thing I'm also very clear about is, anyone who is talking about 2028 is not taking 2025 very seriously."
"I'm focusing on making sure that in 2025, that people know, that the people of Maryland know that their governor understood the assignment and understood how to fight for them," Moore added.
Before the fish fry, Moore was the headline speaker at the party's Blue Palmetto fundraiser dinner, sharing that his grandfather was born in Charleston.
In addition to the state party events, Richland County said in a release that Moore joined District 2 County Councilman Derrek Pugh on a economic development tour. Pugh's district is home to electric carmaker Scout Motors's new $2 billion production center, currently under construction.
The county said 46-year-old Moore, Maryland's first Black governor — and the only sitting Black governor in the country — and Pugh talked about investments in the region and the "best practices that have led to impactful business growth and job creation."
Walz has said that he is not ruling out a 2028 bid.
"Donald Trump sucks up so much oxygen and so much media oxygen, that we need all of our players on the field in every single lane, making sure we're getting our message out and hitting back," Walz, 61, said Friday in Columbia.
To do that, Walz said the Democratic Party needs to build up the party infrastructure and get "the message out there for 2028."
Moore and Walz's attendance at the fish fry comes six years after more than 20 Democratic presidential candidates mingled with 7,000 voters at the same event, lining up in a group photo donning blue Jim Clyburn T-shirts.
That next year in 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary after struggles in other early-voting states.
Four years later, South Carolina was chosen to lead the presidential nominating contest — a nod to the state's diverse electorate. Black South Carolinians make up about two-thirds of the state Democratic Party voter bloc.
"Not a single person has gotten on the national ticket who did not win South Carolina," Clyburn said, noting the exception of John Edwards in 2004.
Clyburn said he did not care where South Carolina landed on the nominating calendar, as long as it stays in the top four.
"The most important hitter on a baseball team is the clean up hitter. He comes in fourth place. And South Carolina's always been fourth, and we've demonstrated how important being in fourth place was," he said. "So, I'm not concerned about whether or not we're first, second, third. But, please, let us be at least fourth."
At Clyburn's fish fry, voters told SC Public Radio it was not only the fried fish that they were looking for Friday night.
Voters said they wanted to hear more information about what the party is doing to take on the Trump administration and how they plan to motivate voters to show up at the ballot box next year and in 2028.
Nationally, the Democratic Party has faced criticism and Democratic political leaders have acknowledged that the party needs to have a more coherent message that speaks to voters.
"I think the Democratic Party has a young men problem, and we need to find a way to reinvigorate young men and bring them back in (and get) excited about Democratic candidates," voter Chris Fetemie told SC Public Radio at Clyburn's fish fry.
To do that, Moore said Democrats have to stop talking to voters solely in election years.
"It's not the message. It's the results," he said. "People want to see results. People want to see, are the policies ... actually making my life better?"
Walz echoed that sentiment.
"We need to be in every space, every minute, driving that message and showing the results that we're getting," he said.
Walz headlined the party's convention in Columbia Saturday.
