Brandon Upson

Brandon is the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party Black Caucus and the founder of Amplify Action; A nonprofit organization focused on rebuilding power within marginalized communities through the voter registration and civic mobilization of Black men. In 2020, the organization registered 39,080 Black men and mobilized 450,000+ to get out and vote.

Brandon is an eighth-generation South Carolina native, reared in Aiken SC. He is a US Army Combat Veteran and a notable political strategist. Brandon served in Iraq as a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist, and later as a Combat Engineer for a trailblazing task force during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also volunteered on more than 100 combat missions in Iraq and was honored with an Army Commendation Medal and as his Company's Soldier of the year in 2006 and NCO of the year in 2008.

Brandon attended the College of Charleston, the Frontline Leaders Academy Fellowship, New Leaders Council, and the DCCC Senior Field Director and Campaign Management training programs. After college, he extended his service from defending our freedom to fighting to rebuild underserved communities. In 2016, Brandon and his wife started The Unity Initiative, a project focused on building stronger relationships between communities and local Law Enforcement.

Brandon has worked on nearly three dozen political campaigns across the country and has been called the 'political magician' because of his ability to win long-shot races. He has also managed multiple policy initiatives and has successfully led and advised the efforts to amend the North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida state constitutions. His work has been featured nationally on CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Buzzfeed, and the New York Times. During the 2018 primaries, Brandon was the only African-American campaign manager for a gubernatorial campaign in the country. He also served as Tom Steyer's National Organizing Director and Senior Advisor to South Carolina, where he led the state's day-to-day operations and overall strategy and brought Mr. Steyer from 4% in the polls to a competitive third-place finish.

Due to the extent of Brandon's experience and unique insight on the topics of community building, electoral campaigns, and issue advocacy, he is highly sought after to speak, participate in panel discussions, and train groups, and organizations on these topics.

Brandon is married to Monica Upson and is the proud father of three children: Cossette, Sophie, and Patrick.