Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod becomes first Democrat to join the race for governor
Mullins McLeod is a personal injury attorney based in Charleston. He ran for governor in 2010 as a Democrat but dropped out of the race months before his party's primary election day.
He said he is joining the race now because he thinks there is a job that needs to be done in Columbia.
"That job is curing a cancer that has infiltrated our state government over the last 25 years," McLeod said in his campaign video. "The name of that cancer is corruption."
McLeod said the Columbia establishment sells out South Carolinians to benefit their "large, corporate, for-profit friends." He said the establishment has promised and failed to take a tax burden off the backs of South Carolinians every election cycle.
"In the real world where I live in, that's called fraud," McLeod said. "In Columbia, that's just business as usual."
He called on voters to choose a governor who is a "servant leader" and will act in their best interest at all times. He said he is the only person running for governor who is not a politician and has experience fighting corruption in the courtroom.
"We know the cure. It's servant leadership," McLeod said. "It's time that we the people kick corruption's teeth in at the statehouse."
Another Democrat, State Rep. Jermaine Johnson (D-Richland), previously said he is working with an exploratory committee and is considering joining the race.
More: Rep. Nancy Mace enters race for governor: 'I went from making waffles to making history'
The Republican primary is packed with five candidates: Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Attorney General Alan Wilson, U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace (1st District), and Ralph Norman (5th District), and State Sen. Josh Kimbrell (R-Spartanburg).
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Lowcountry attorney joins South Carolina governor's race as a Democrat
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