Democratic Solicitor Pascoe to join GOP. Will he run for SC attorney general?

Longtime Democratic Solicitor David Pascoe, who made news as a special prosecutor attacking corruption in the General Assembly, announced Thursday he is switching parties and becoming a Republican.

The move was widely seen as a first step for Pascoe to run for attorney general in the 2026 Republican primary if incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson decides, as expected, not to run for re-election and instead seek the governor’s office.

“I’m certainly contemplating a run,” said Pascoe, 58, in an interview earlier Thursday. But Pascoe declined to specifically say whether he would run for attorney general, the state’s chief law enforcement officer.

Pascoe has been the elected Democratic solicitor in the 1st Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties, since 2005.

Pascoe announced his party shift Thursday afternoon to a crowd estimated at more than 100 at the Summerville Country Club in the heavily Republican Dorchester County, where President Trump beat Kamala Harris, 56% to 41%, last November.

“Today we welcome our solicitor, David Pascoe... to the Republican Party,” said Dorchester County GOP chairman Steven Wright in a speech at the event. He called Pascoe a “no-nonsense, tough on crime prosecutor.”

In South Carolina, it is almost impossible for a Democrat to win a statewide race. President Donald Trump, a Republican, carried South Carolina by 58%-40%.

In his speech Thursday, much of which will no doubt be repeated on the campaign trail, should he run for attorney general, Pascoe said he can “no longer in good conscience wear the label of Democrat. I am pro-life and I’ve earnestly put evil men on death row. The Democratic Party has become too soft on crime.

In recent years, Pascoe told the crowd to applause, the Democratic Party “disregards the dangers of crimes committed by illegal immigrants and prioritizes radical agendas over public safety. For these reasons and more, I stand here today as a new member of the GOP.”

A defining moment for him came last Dec. 23 when Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 killers awaiting execution on federal death row, said Pascoe, who has sent two killers to death row, Pascoe said.

“I cannot in good faith be a member of a political party that sheds more tears for violent criminals than innocent victims,” Pascoe said. “But this does not mean I am changing who I am.”

Over the years, Pascoe said, he has at times endorsed Republicans over Democrats for law enforcement positions “because public safety should transcend partisan lines.”

Joining Pascoe at the event were fellow Republican Solicitors Duffie Stone of Beaufort County and Scarlett Wilson of Charleston County. Both are from populous areas of the state, and they are likely to help Pascoe organize support in their communities for any statewide run he might mount. Two other Republican solicitors — Kevin Brackett of York County and Jimmy Richardson of Horry County — were expected to be there but didn’t make it.

Wilson, who has known Pascoe for 34 years since they were law students at University of South Carolina School of Law, praised him in a speech Thursday for being “reasonable,” “respectful” and “relentless” and and warned to watch out for the “swamp monsters” who would be coming after him. “So buckle up,” Wilson concluded.

Pascoe’s once-fellow Democrats were not pleased.

As word of Pascoe’s planned defection leaked out Thursday, Bakari Sellers — a former Democratic state lawmaker and current CNN pundit and author — posted a photo of Pascoe on X, formerly Twitter, and former President Joe Biden.

Sellers said in an interview with The State, “I’m extremely disappointed that David Pascoe is leaving the Democratic Party to further his political ambition to run for statewide office. I think he should resign as solicitor — that’s not why the people of Orangeburg County, Dorchester County and Calhoun County elected him.”

Sellers continued, “I wonder if David Pascoe is now going to wrap his arms around Donald Trump the same way he wrapped his arms around Joe Biden? If that’s the case, I guess I never knew him.”

Sellers, an African-American, said Pascoe had been repeatedly re-elected “on the backs of Black folk” in majority Black Orangeburg County, and Trump is “trying to erase” minority and civil rights history.

Pascoe follows Strom Thurmond

In switching allegiance from the Democratic Party, which up until the final decades of the 1900s controlled South Carolina politics, Pascoe joins a long line of politicians who became Republicans, beginning with the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1964.

In that year, the staunch segregationist Thurmond switched parties in protest of national Democratic civil rights and other liberal positions. Although Thurmond moderated his racial stands over the years, he remained highly conservative and a backer of flying the Confederate flag on State House grounds.

Pascoe is best known for his seven-year crusade to root out corruption in the S.C. General Assembly.

As a special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Wilson, Pascoe led a prosecution that in 2014 resulted in the conviction and removal from office of former House Speaker Bobby Harrell.

That was followed six more years of successful investigations by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and Pascoe into the activities of lobbyist Richard Quinn Sr. and his connections to five former lawmakers.

Pascoe, an aggressive hands-on prosecutor, has been lead prosecutor in the courtroom in dozens of violent crime cases. In his years-long investigation of legislative corruption, Pascoe argued and won a case in the S.C. Supreme Court against Attorney General Wilson, who was trying to impede Pascoe’s efforts to use a state grand jury with its powerful subpoena powers.

Pascoe reminded the Republican crowd of other career high points: calling for the firing squad to be used in executions, issuing a state grand jury public report on General Assembly corruption, traveling the state to talk about ethics and judicial reform and winning the death penalty for condemned killer Mikail Mahdi, who is slated to be executed on Friday, April 11, by firing squad.

“Being a prosecutor is about more than just putting violent criminals behind bars,” Pascoe told the crowd. “Being a prosecutor should also be about taking on corruption.... There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Pascoe said he was not ready to announce for attorney general. “My day job is keeping me so busy I just can’t concentrate on that,” he said.

The attorney general’s job pays $208,000.

Within an hour of Pascoe’s announcement, Christale Spain, the S.C. Democratic Party chair, fired off this response, which read in part:

“It’s no secret that First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe wants to be Attorney General and is willing to do anything to get there. After endorsing President Biden in 2020, Pascoe endorsed numerous Republican candidates in 2024.”

Spain predicted that Republican voters reject Pascoe if he runs for higher office.

“Who are you fooling David? Do you think South Carolina Republicans are going to let a 20-year Democratic Solicitor who suddenly has a change of heart be their nominee for Attorney General?” Spain said in a blast email.

“When the South Carolina GOP Primary voters reject you in 2026, don’t expect the voters in Calhoun, Dorchester, and Orangeburg to allow you to keep your job,” she wrote.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 5:48 PM.