Should Mullins McLeod quit the SC governor’s race? It’s complicated | Opinion
The South Carolina governor’s race took a sharp turn for the worse this week when the state Democratic Party chairwoman told the only Democrat so far in the open race to leave it.
Asking anyone to leave the 2026 race now is wrong for several reasons. I’m not excusing anyone’s behavior. I haven’t even explained it yet. Let me detail it, then you decide how you might vote.
That’s how this should work.
Prominent Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod announced his candidacy on Monday. Just two days later, Christale Spain, the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told him to quit so he could “focus on his mental and emotional well-being instead of a campaign for governor.”
Why? Because Tuesday The Post and Courier published a disturbing video of McLeod’s arrest in May on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. The video would be a problem for any upstanding lawyer looking for clients, let alone any grandstanding politician looking for votes.
Of course, McLeod should be asked to explain his bad behavior in every interview for as long as he stays in the race. But party leaders shouldn’t be demanding his exit. Any decision to jump into a race — or out of one — is ultimately up to the people running, unless, as state law holds, they have been convicted of a felony or other disqualifying crimes having to do with elections.
Each election is a chance for us to decide what we want and don’t want in our leaders. Us.
That the state Democratic party called on him to exit says as much about the party as him.
Where to draw the line
McLeod is well known as a successful lawyer who has helped secure big paydays for deserving clients: $88 million for the survivors and families of victims of the 2015 Emanuel AME church shooting in Charleston, $20-plus million for the family of a man who drowned in Horry County in 2019, $10 million for the family of a former mayor shot by a police officer in Cottageville in 2011.
He’s also known as a two-time chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party.
This week McLeod became known from dashcam video as the shirtless guy in the back of a police cruiser in May who declined to give officers his name, said they could call him Superman and then criticized several state leaders and a “corrupt” system in a 30-minute rant — saying of Attorney General Alan Wilson he wants “to kick his teeth in” and he’s “too stupid to read.”
Wilson is one of five GOP gubernatorial candidates in the race. The others are U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman; Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg.
Wednesday, in a post on X, Wilson gave McLeod “the benefit of the doubt” that he wasn’t talking about “a street fight” but rather a “general election.” Four hours and 13 minutes later, Spain posted a statement of her own on X, wishing McLeod well but calling on him to step aside.
“Mullins McLeod is a skilled attorney, a former Democratic Party chair who worked tirelessly for our values, and a member of a proud Lowcountry family with a long tradition of public service,” Spain wrote. “After reviewing the transcript of the dash cam footage from his recent arrest, it is clear that Mr. McLeod is navigating profound challenges and should focus on his mental and emotional well-being instead of a campaign for governor. We offer him compassion and pray he finds the support he needs.”
Imagine the note without “instead of a campaign for governor.”
Now compare it with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s advice for President Donald Trump to refrain from making any endorsement in the GOP race for governor unless there is a runoff. Since Trump’s endorsement could put one of the leading candidates over the top, Graham’s request is notable because the surrounding context is clear: Voters should decide this race.
They should.
Now consider this: McLeod’s outburst is uniquely troubling, but it’s also in the same unsettling universe as recent displays of belligerence by Mace, one of the GOP candidates in the race.
Who can forget Mace dropping F-bombs on a shopper who approached her in a store in April?
Or Mace doubling, tripling, quadrupling and quintupling down on a slur when a transgender woman asked Mace to stop using it in her presence in April?
Or Mace saying any critic of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill was “against America” in July?
Should she be asked to step out of the race now?
Of course not.
Thursday, Mace posted a clip of the McLeod video on X showing him yelling about Mace, and she wrote, “Violence against women has no place in this country, especially not in public office. We hope he gets the help he needs.”
Republicans and Democrats alike should decide how to define — and where to draw the line on — candidate acceptability at the polls. Yet Democrats are already elbowing candidates out of their primary election.
Let the state’s voters decide
State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, has said he is considering a campaign but hasn’t formally jumped in yet, so McLeod became the first declared Democrat in the race on Monday.
The next day, The Post and Courier was first to report on and share a copy of his bizarre video.
McLeod told the news outlet that his arrest that night was “unlawful.”
Police said he was “yelling at the top of his lungs” near King Street and Murray Boulevard in only his shoes and underwear. He barely stopped after he was placed in a cruiser. The video is uncomfortable to watch.
McLeod’s use of the n-word at one point in his 30-minute rant will be seen by many as disqualifying for public office. His repeated use of the b-word in seeming reference to Mace and former Gov. Nikki Haley is also unacceptable.
McLeod’s behavior in May should be part of every conversation he has about the governor’s race while he is in it. And he should be asked about it. His profanity-laden rant raises many questions. But here’s the thing with politics. If you meet the requirements of a race, you can run.
You get to campaign and to see if voters will accept what you are offering. Candidates have certainly done horrible things and had those things overlooked before. Look at the White House.
I have some issues with both political parties. For one, I think their reliance on gerrymandered districts and straight-ticket voting are terrible ways to have elections conducted fairly and fully or to ensure voters educate themselves on every potential choice all the way down the ballot.
Such mechanics ensure people in power stay in power and hold themselves accountable less.
But I appreciate how influential Republicans like Graham want South Carolinians to settle their race for governor, and I don’t like how influential Democrats like Spain want to control this ballot.
If Democratic voters don’t want McLeod anywhere near the governor’s office, let them decide.
McLeod may never pull papers to formally launch a campaign in March. That would be the wise move in terms of his time, money and electability, but it’s his call to make, not the party’s.
Matthew T. Hall is McClatchy’s South Carolina opinion editor. Email him at mhall@thestate.com.