Five years after confrontation, Richland school board member seeks McLeod’s SC Senate seat
A Richland 2 school board member will run for the state Senate seat currently held by Mia McLeod, setting up a potential matchup between the pair nearly five years after they were allegedly involved in a confrontation after a school board meeting.
Monica Elkins announced in mid-November that she will run as a Democrat for South Carolina Senate District 22. A retired school teacher and administrator from Columbia, Elkins has served on the Richland 2 school board since 2012.
“People have welcomed me with loving arms, financial support and prayers,” Elkins said. “I am born and raised in South Carolina, in Columbia, this is my home. I want what’s best for everyone, regardless of party.”
McLeod, one of the five “sister senators” fighting against a near-total abortion ban in the state last year, left the S.C. Democratic Party in January. It was a surprising twist to the start of the 2023 Legislative session after McLeod’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2022. In an email to supporters, McLeod said she left the party, in part, because it no longer espoused the values she and her constituents cared about.
As of Wednesday afternoon, McLeod is still listed as an Independent on the State House website.
McLeod did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clear if she’ll seek reelection — during a radio talk show in January, McLeod said she was undecided as to whether she’d pursue another term.
If McLeod decides to run again, it won’t be their first face-off.
Elkins, known as Monica Elkins-Johnson at the time, was arrested in January 2019 after an altercation following a school board meeting when she allegedly shoved McLeod’s sister.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department charged her with disorderly conduct.
McLeod and her sister Erica Davis were leaving the meeting when they saw Elkins and Stacy McKie, husband of former Richland 2 board Amelia McKie, arguing in the hallway, according to police reports. Elkins called him a “motherf-----” and threatened to kill him, a report said.
She then “aggressively came towards” McLeod, and Davis stepped in between them, according to the police report. Elkins then allegedly pushed Davis.
The sheriff’s department called Elkins “disorderly and boisterous.”
“(She) did attack several individuals and said ‘B----, I asked you to get the f--- out of my face before I beat your ass,” the department said in a statement.
Following the incident, Elkins was restrained by Richland 2 security, according to reports. She later turned herself into police and was released from Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on a $237.50 personal recognizance bond, on the condition she have no contact with McLeod, McKie or Davis, court records showed. Nobody else was charged following the incident.
Elkins’ attorney denied she shoved anybody.
“She’s not a danger to the community. She has no prior history,” attorney Justin Kata of the Giese Law Firm told The State in 2019. “What’s been reported in the newspaper and what’s written in the warrant is that she attacked people at a school board meeting. We adamantly deny she attacked anybody.”
Elkins’ case was later diverted to pre-trial intervention, according to court records, a program for first-time offenders.
Elkins declined to comment on the 2019 incident.
“I am running a campaign focused on positivity,” Elkins said.
If elected, she wants to focus on economic development, military veterans issues and especially education. Teacher pay, school safety and smaller classes would be priorities, she said. And she’ll remain involved in Richland 2.
In 2016, Elkins unsuccessfully ran for the state House. She was defeated by Rep. Ivory Thigpen for the District 79 seat in the Democratic primary. Now, she is eyeing the District 22 Senate seat, which represents northern Richland County, including portions of Columbia, Forest Acres and Blythewood.
Elkins is adament that a Democrat belongs in the seat.
