With backing from Gamecocks, NFL stars, Moe Brown launches SC 5th District campaign
Former University of South Carolina wide receiver Moe Brown was in the middle of a story, standing on a makeshift stump in the dining porch area of the Carolina Ale House in Fort Mill, when he stopped himself.
Brown, who effectively kicked off his Democratic campaign for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District seat on Tuesday night, knew some of the people in the 175-person crowd he was addressing his whole life — such as his mother, his grandmother and his uncle, who he considers his “second father.”
Dozens were from his days playing football from 2006 to 2009 for the Gamecocks, including Captain Munnerlyn, Darian Stewart, Brandon Wilds, Jamar Nesbit and others. Munnerlyn was a longtime Carolina Panthers safety. Stewart played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wilds currently plays in the XFL.
“I gotta give y’all some love for being here,” Brown said, pointing to several Gamecock lettermen. “Captain, Larry, Pierre, Ced, Jamar…”
Brown, who worked six years at the state’s commerce agency, even knew some of his supporters from his young political life — including Fran Person, a former aide to former Vice President Joe Biden, who ran for the same congressional seat as Brown in 2016. (Person was also once a Gamecock football player.)
“Fran, in the back, who also ran for this position,” Brown said, pointing again. “We’re going to keep the game fight spirit up, and we’re going to win this thing this time.”
Eventually, Brown, a Fort Mill resident, told his story — the same one he kept interrupting. He mentioned growing up with a teenage mother. He touched on the life lessons football at USC taught him, which drew a knowing reaction from the crowd.
Brown, should he win the June primary, would face U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, who currently holds the seat. He addressed his potential opponent, too.
But perhaps the most compelling and legitimizing aspect of Brown’s presence on Tuesday night was the crowd itself — its size and its prestigious support.
“Right now, we have a guy who has decided that his position and his profit is more important than the people who have elected him to serve them,” Brown told the crowd. “In this country — of the people, by the people, for the people — he has misunderstood what that means.
“And that requires all of us — the people — to remind him.”
Brown a ‘fierce competitor’
The Republican incumbent announced he is seeking reelection at a campaign kickoff event on March 2. Norman, who has held the seat since 2017, succeeded Mick Mulvaney in a special election after Mulvaney joined the Trump administration as the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
DeVonte Holloman, the head coach of the South Pointe football team, said Brown was a senior when he was a freshman on USC’s football team. Holloman, a former linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, said Brown, who was a captain for the Gamecocks his senior year, has the leadership experience to lead a successful campaign.
“He’s a fierce competitor,” Holloman told the crowd. “He doesn’t like to lose. But at the same time, the thing that I learned from him the most was that he’s a true leader. He showed me when I got to South Carolina the way that things should be done.”
Bakari Sellers, a former state legislator and political commentator, said there will be voters who won’t believe Brown can win, but he said it’s possible. Sellers was the youngest black elected official in the country.
“My grandmother used to say, ‘You can’t fall off the floor,’” Sellers told the crowd. “For a long period of time, it made absolutely no sense to me. But during the election of Donald Trump and Ralph Norman...I’ve learned there’s a lot of us who feel like we’re on the floor. Gay Americans in this country. Muslim Americans in this country. Hispanic Americans. Immigrants. Black people. Well, we’ve been feeling like we’ve been on the floor for a long time.”
Some in the crowd giggled.
“White folk, you’re welcome to join us in this feeling,” Sellers continued.
Nearly the whole crowd laughed.
“The only way we can get up is if we show them we’re stronger together,” Sellers said. “And that’s why Moe Brown is running because he wants to bring people together in South Carolina.”
Sellers said a new and younger voting bloc will turn out for Brown.
“Moe Brown is something unique in South Carolina,” Sellers said. “I hate when people say we are the future because Moe’s not the future. Moe’s the right now. There’s no more important time in our state’s and in our country’s history than right now.”
Ramin Mammadov, an Indian Land Democrat who previously announced his candidacy for the seat, said at the event he is exiting the race and will support Brown. Now, according to federal filings, Mark Anthony Ali is the only other Democrat that has filed to run against Norman.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 10:50 PM with the headline "With backing from Gamecocks, NFL stars, Moe Brown launches SC 5th District campaign."
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