Controversial former SC congressional candidate sets sights on Midland’s mayoral race
Archie Parnell, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran twice for South Carolina’s 5th District congressional seat and who faced reports of domestic violence which ultimately led to staff exits, announced on Monday his plans to run for mayor of Sumter.
Parnell’s announcement, posted on his Facebook page, focused on coronavirus and the state’s and country’s response.
Among his platforms included “confronting COVID-19 with common sense and compassion.”
Since June, Sumter County has seen a steady decline in positive COVID-19 cases. City leaders adopted a mask requirement, a measure that state health officials have said is effectively helping curb the virus’ spread.
“Washington won’t save us. Columbia won’t save us. We have to save ourselves and we can do that by working together,” Parnell said in a statement. “There is an opportunity in this crisis to make Sumter better. We need a full-time leader who believes in all that Sumter can be.”
Sumter’s current mayor is Joe McElveen, father of state Sen. Thomas McElveen, who announced his retirement in January.
Though no one has officially filed to run in the race, owner of Brownstone Real Estate Foxy Rae Campbell said she will file.
As mayor, Parnell said he also would focus on government transparency and ethics, take on criminal justice issues, integrate Shaw Air Force Base personnel into the community, develop affordable housing alternatives and invest in Sumter’s sewer and water systems.
Parnell first ran against Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Normal in a 2017 special election, when he came close to winning the 5th District seat but lost by a slim margin of just 3.2 percentage points. In 2018 he lost by a far greater margin — more than 15 percentage points — to Norman after many prominent Democrats, the state party and other backers abandoned him after the release of his divorce records from 1973 that showed Parnell broke into an apartment with a tire iron and beat his ex-wife.
The news was first reported by the Charleston Post and Courier.
