Upstate conservative leaders urged South Carolina Republicans to cross over and vote for Democratic U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in Saturday's Democratic Primary in a press conference announcement Tuesday at Greenville County Square.

“We think we have the opportunity here to get enough Republicans to vote to swing four or five or six points to help Senator Sanders win on Saturday," said Stephen Brown, former chairman of the Greenville County Republican Party.

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Brown, alongside Greenville Tea Party Chairman Pressley Stutts, said he and other Upstate conservative leaders believe a Sanders win would ultimately benefit the reelection of President Donald Trump in the November General Election, which is their ultimate goal.

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Sanders currently trails former Vice President Joe Biden in voter polling in South Carolina but has posted strong results in the first three state primaries and caucuses, including a resounding win in Nevada last Saturday.

If Sanders gets the most delegates leading up to the Democratic National Convention, Brown said he believes there's still a chance the party denies him the nomination, which is what he said is the outcome he most hopes to see.

“If they were to do that, we believe it would enrage the left, cause the Democratic Party to split and only help Donald Trump in his reelection," Brown said.

If Sanders is successful in getting the Democratic nomination, Brown said “that will make the Democratic Party the party of socialism."

“We will have a clear contrast between capitalism and freedom-loving Americans against Bernie Sanders and his Democratic socialists, so we would welcome that if it turns out that way," he said.

Asked whether he was willing to risk seeing Sanders defeat Trump in November with the help of this tactic in the primary, Brown said he believes "our nation will reject socialism.”

“If we can’t defeat a socialist here in 2020, we wouldn’t deserve the freedoms that we have, he said. "I’m confident that Donald Trump will prevail."

A campaign spokesperson for Sanders said in a statement earlier this month that Trump and Republicans "have always been afraid to run against Bernie Sanders."

Frustration with open primaries

Since South Carolina has open primaries where voters do not have to register by political party, voters can cast ballots in either primary.

That point was listed as the main reason for holding the press conference Tuesday, which was attended by Brown, Stutts and a throng of reporters as a few passersby looked on at Greenville County Square.

"We want to show what happens when the other party crosses over and votes in the other party’s primary," Brown said.

The strategy is being called "Operation Chaos" by some conservative organizers, and Stutts held up a sign with those words as he spoke.

“I am just one of millions of voices here in South Carolina that is sick and tired of the meddling that has been happening over the years by Democrats in our primaries because we have open primaries in this state," Stutts said.

Their aim is for state legislators to hear their message and change South Carolina election laws.

“We don’t see this as in any way improper or underhanded because we’re being very open about it," Brown said. "This is what the law is, this is how it works, it happens every election, we see it constantly.”

Multiple conservative crossover efforts afoot

The press conference announcement Tuesday is the latest in a series of efforts, to various degrees, by different Upstate conservative groups to play a part in influencing which Democratic presidential nominee will take on Donald Trump in November.

Spartanburg Tea Party official Karen Martin is involved in another effort, helping set up a Facebook page promoting another effort for Republicans to vote for Sanders.

Martin told The Greenville News earlier this month that she sees the effort as payback for years of Democrats voting in Republican primaries.

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A separate effort was organized by Conservative Defense Fund, a political group out of Simpsonville run by former Republican state House candidate Christopher Sullivan.

Sullivan's effort has not advocated for a specific spoiler candidate but has produced fliers titled "Operation Chaos," which were distributed at a party meeting this month.

The flier urged Republicans to "vote for the 'worst' Democrat."

Nate Leupp, chair of the Greenville County Republican Party, declined to confirm his involvement in the Republican efforts. Martin, the Spartanburg-area tea party leader, has led the effort, Leupp told The Greenville News earlier this month.

But Leupp said he's not opposed to the effort. He said primary turnout figures from the 2016 presidential campaign show it would not take a lot of crossover Republicans to move the needle for a chosen Democratic candidate.

The state's Republican chairman, Drew McKissick, told The Greenville News earlier this month that the state party has no preferred Democratic candidate — neither as a choice to face Trump or as consolation in case Trump doesn't get reelected. McKissick said the South Carolina GOP will take no official position on crossover voting in the primary and will encourage voters to vote their own conscience.

Crossover voter impact

Ultimately, crossover votes could be a factor in the primary, said David Woodard, a retired Clemson University professor who has consulted with Republicans for decades, in an interview with The Greenville News last month.

Republicans who otherwise wouldn't want to interrupt their Republican voting record could actually brag about crossing over this year, Woodard said. Fueled by impeachment and memories of Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Republicans will be highly motivated this year, Woodard said.

"It used to be called mischief voting," said Woodard, who described a tradition of voters casting inauspicious ballots for opposing parties.

There were such George McGovern crossover voters in 1972, Woodard said.

And Woodard said some GOP consultants suggested in 2000 that votes for John McCain were coming from Democrats.

In 2016, according to Woodard, there was a small effort among Democrats to vote for Trump in the Republican primary because they thought he would be an easier opponent to beat in the general election.

You can connect with reporter Gabe Cavallaro on Twitter @gabe_cavallaro or facebook.com/cavallarogabe or email him at gcavallaro@greenvillenews.com.