SC Sen. McLeod’s backers sticking with the gov candidate after she targets lawmaker
South Carolina legislators who have endorsed Sen. Mia McLeod’s campaign for governor say they are sticking with her after she launched a series of tweets aimed at the top Democrat in the state House.
On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford endorsed McLeod’s primary opponent, Joe Cunningham.
In response to Rutherford’s endorsement, McLeod called Cunningham and Rutherford “birds of a feather” and raised previous allegations about circumstances surrounding Rutherford’s wife’s attempt to become a magistrate judge, using the state plane and his mother-in-law’s nonprofit. Rutherford has previously addressed these allegations, and there was no evidence he did anything illegal.
Rutherford responded to McLeod, defending his wife and other allegations, calling them “a lie.”
State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, D-Charleston, who is backing McLeod’s campaign for governor, called the war of words “unfortunate,” but said he plans to vote her on June 14.
“I just hate to see things get to this level,” said Pendarvis, whose endorsement was promoted last week by McLeod. “It’s disappointing to see two of our state’s more prominent leaders in the Democratic Party go back-and-forth with each other on Twitter. That’s not something I think is helpful to the party. It really paints us in a bad light overall.”
Democrats have not won a statewide race since 2006, and have not held the governor’s office since Jim Hodges was governor from 1999 to 2003.
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, who had supported Cunningham in previous elections, told The State he has no plans to pull his endorsement from McLeod, but would not comment directly on the Twitter argument.
“I think it’s time for us to try something new, and Mia is certainly a new opportunity we have to energize the base,” Kimpson said. “She’s passionate about the issues that most South Carolinians care for and has demonstrated she is willing to get into the trenches to fight and that’s what we need, a fighter.”
State Rep. JA Moore, D-Berkeley, said he will continue to campaign for McLeod.
“I probably would have done it differently, but I like a fighter and a person who doesn’t back down from a fight is my type of person,” Moore said. “It’s Twitter fingers. People of South Carolina are looking for more than that. I think this is a one-day story if anything, it’s not a big deal.”
On Twitter, Cunningham did not respond directly to McLeod’s tweets, instead writing that, “The challenges we face in this state are real and deserve serious leadership,” Cunningham tweeted. “I’ll continue to keep my campaign positive and focused on the issues because that’s what you deserve.”
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 6:39 PM with the headline "SC Sen. McLeod’s backers sticking with the gov candidate after she targets lawmaker."
