(AP) -- COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A black conservative organization in South Carolina sponsored a rally at the Statehouse in support of tougher immigration laws, featuring a black Republican congressional candidate.

Almost all of the roughly 150 people attending Saturday's rally were white. Event organizer Roweena Booker who also founded the South Carolina Black Conservative Movement said she thinks many blacks are afraid breaking their historical attachment to the Democratic Party.

She said she started the organization to show that socially conservative values are equally important to black voters as to whites.

State. Rep. Tim Scott is running for South Carolina's 1st congressional district and spoke at the rally. He would be the first black Republican congressman since Oklahoma's J.C. Watts retired in 2003.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)