Democrat was shaken by Trump's win, so she decided to shake up SC governor's race

▪ One in a series of articles on the candidates running to be South Carolina's next governor.

Marguerite Willis is not waiting on Prince Charming anymore.

For years, the attorney from Florence was content not to be involved in elected politics, thinking there were others better able to fight the fight on issues that she cared about.

But then, surprised by the election of President Donald Trump, the Hillary Clinton-supporting Willis decided those issues were too important to leave up to someone else.

"As folks say, I was 'woke,' " Willis told a gathering recently on the campaign trail. "I thought, 'Why not me? I'm tired of waiting for Prince Charming.' "

This year has seen a surge in the number of women running for office, including former state agency director Catherine Templeton, who is running for S.C. governor as a Republican. Nationwide, as many as 575 women are running for Congress or governor this year, according to one study.

Willis would seem to be at a disadvantage.

Running in the Democratic primary against longtime state Rep. James Smith of Columbia, Willis has no prior experience in elected office. Also, unlike Charleston technology consultant Phil Noble, Willis entered the race late, only declaring her candidacy in January.

But Willis decided to make her case to S.C. voters anyway, applying the lessons she has learned during her life to the political world.

"I grew up at a time in Greenville when I thought I would never work — not outside the home," the 68-year-old Willis said. "I would get married and have kids, and I wouldn't have a career... and the world changed."

Willis changed, too.

She earned her law degree from Stetson University, Fla., and become an anti-trust attorney. She also married a doctor.

But after 10 years of marriage, Willis told a recent meeting of Beaufort County Democrats in Hilton Head, she found out her then-husband was taking advantage of her job, which often kept her away from home for much of the week.

"It turned out, I came home Friday through Monday, and then he had another woman who would come in Monday morning and stay until Friday," she said.

That experience taught Willis something about how women need to position themselves in the world.

"Luckily, I had a great job and I could just leave," Willis said. "Others aren't so lucky. That's why I support women having financial independence, and, for years, that was a message I was happy delivering."

Today, Willis is married to former Florence Mayor Frank Willis — who ran for governor himself in 2006.

Me too

Inspired by the #MeToo movement, Willis often puts aside her prepared notes to talk about women's issues on the campaign trail.

The day she spoke in Hilton Head, Democrat Eric Schneiderman just had resigned as New York attorney general over allegations of domestic abuse. While removed from the world of S.C. politics, Willis pounced.

"By day, he was a progressive Democratic hero, and by night he was a heavy drinker and serial abuser of women," Willis told her audience. "Shouldn't that type of hypocrisy bother us?"

It bothered some of those listening to Willis, most of them longtime local Democrats.

"I'm going to support a woman over a man from now on," said Flo Rossie, chair of the Beaufort Democratic party. "I'm tired of men in office who can't control themselves. ... It's Schneiderman, Trump, all of it. Every time, you turn around it's something else."

Willis says she feels the need to speak her mind when women's issues come up in the news. It's the same impulse that leads her to decry South Carolina's status as one of the few states in the country without an equal-pay law on the books.

"It's not on my mind to be controversial, but I have to say, 'Look, you want to know what I think? '" Willis said. "I think anybody who runs for office and wants to champion women's issues shouldn't abuse women, and I think they shouldn't cheat on their wives. ... I don't think that kind of conduct has any place in leadership, and I don't want to see it."

Others among the Beaufort Democrats had similar thoughts.

However, Bob Poveromo was more practical, liking Willis' plans to steer state policy through the agencies that the governor now controls, such as using the Commerce Department to focus development on the neediest counties.

"Knowing how the Constitution does constrain the governor, I thought she was the only one I've heard who had practical answers," Poveromo said.

'One of the most experienced teams'

South Carolina hasn't completely lacked female elected leaders. But they still are a rarity. If elected, Willis would be only the state's second female governor, after former Gov. Nikki Haley.

Even rarer is the way the state will elect its lieutenant governor this year. For the first time, candidates for S.C. governor are picking their own running mates.

Willis saw that as an opportunity to expand her ticket's appeal, selecting longtime Richland County state Sen. John Scott, an African-American, as her running mate.

"I was trying to say that we wanted to include everybody in the state," she said. "We've about covered everybody — men and women, people of color and white people. And we think that sends a message that there's somebody there who looks like you, that has your interests at heart.

"I know as a woman, that's really important. John tells me as an African-American, that's really important. I learned a long time ago I wouldn't know what it was like to be in a black person's skin, but I know what it's like to be in a woman's skin."

The pick of Scott as her running mate gives Willis a chance to make inroads with an important Democratic voting group; African-American voters make up an estimated 55 percent of Democratic primary voters in the Palmetto State.

"If you want a ticket that looks like South Carolina, I think we do," Scott said. "Whether you're white, black, biracial, bilingual, we represent South Carolina."

Scott also provides another balance to the ticket.

While Willis never has held elected office, Scott has spent almost 30 years in the Legislature, serving in the House of Representatives for nine terms before his election to the Senate in 2009, representing northwestern Richland County.

But Scott doesn't see himself as covering a deficiency in Willis' resume.

"Just because she hasn't held office before does not mean she's not the best candidate," Scott said. "She comes into this very well-regarded. She understands the Constitution. She's one of the best attorneys in the country."

Combined with his government experience, "We're a knowledge-based team," Scott said. "We're one of the most experienced teams out there."

After the duo cemented their alliance over a dinner with their spouses, Scott took Willis to meet with constituents in his district.

"It's clear to me that the people we're meeting, he's been with them a long time," Willis said. "When you go to a community meeting, anybody can tell if you're just showing up now for the first time in six years or if you were just there last month."

'No place in such an important contest'

Willis made her biggest splash of the campaign when she released a video in early April, calling President Trump a racist and sexist.

That video led Willis' "hometown paper," the Greenville News, to run an editorial saying the ad made the governor's race "resemble a WWE smackdown."

"Such rhetoric has no place in such an important contest," the editorial said. "It only serves to further divide the electorate. South Carolina voters deserve better."

Willis wrote a letter to the paper in response, promising to "continue to speak truth to power."

"People who might have been on the fence about what I said about Donald Trump came wholeheartedly to my defense when the Greenville News said there's no place for that kind of talk in the campaign," she said. "People said, 'Now, wait a minute. I may not like what she said, but she has a right to say it. That is part of this process.' "

Willis says the video ripping the president was unscripted. The campaign shot a number of videos at her house, and the video was her first response to the question, "What do you think of Donald Trump?"

Responding to criticisms about her comments, Willis said, "I'll act more like what they think a lady should act like when Donald Trump acts more like a gentleman."

Still, Willis said her feelings won't affect any working relationship she has with the president if she is elected governor.

"I don't think he's going to be sending me a Christmas card. But — if I'm the chief executive of this state, and he's the chief executive of the United States — I hope we can be cordial and work where there's a shared interest. However, if he does anything like drills off shore or threatens us with anything, I'm an attorney.

"I'll sue."

Marguerite Willis

The lawyer seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in that party's June 12 primary

Home town: Florence

Age: 68

Family: Husband, former Florence Mayor Frank Willis; no children — but three Labradors

Professional: Anti-trust attorney with the Columbia-based Nexsen Pruet law firm; previously, first female associate and partner at law firms in Charlotte and Washington, D.C.; clerked for federal judges in Florida

Education: University of Michigan, bachelor's of arts in English, 1971; Stetson University, law degree, 1974

Money raised for primary race: $611,103.03

This story was originally published May 19, 2018 at 6:29 AM with the headline "Democrat was shaken by Trump's win, so she decided to shake up SC governor's race."