Democrat running for SC governor argues arrest unlawful, accuses fellow Democrats of corruption

A Democrat running for governor slammed his fellow Democrats as corrupt this week as he asked a court to dismiss the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge that resulted in calls for him to withdraw four months ago.

Mullins McLeod, a prominent Charleston attorney, has been at odds with his party leaders since days after he launched his campaign this summer, after police released footage of him ranting for more than 30 minutes in the back of a cruiser.

Tripling down on his refusal to exit the race, McLeod said the state Democratic Party chairwoman’s call for him to “focus on his mental and emotional well-being” is an example of the corruption he is running against.

“The idea that the chair of a political party would attempt to put his or her thumb on the scale is a perfect sign of political corruption,” he told the SC Daily Gazette on Thursday.

“When political parties try to put their thumb on the scale, guess what it does? It disenfranchises voters. It’s not good for democracy,” he said.

SC Democrats call on Charleston lawyer to suspend campaign for governor following arrest video

Christale Spain, who chairs the South Carolina Democratic Party, did not respond to the Gazette’s phone and email requests this week for comment.

McLeod said corruption was rampant in Columbia, accusing politicians of putting corporate profits over people.

When asked about his fellow Democrat in the race, Rep. Jermaine Johnson, McLeod suggested he, too, was corrupt.

“I think they should look at his voting record, and I think they should make a decision whether or not he is trying to clean up this corrupt system, or whether he’s part of it,” he said, without pointing to any specific vote or legislation.

Johnson, first elected to the state House in 2020, declined to address the accusations directly.

“Mr. McLeod is lashing out because he and his character have been on trial for his actions,” he said in a statement to the Gazette. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time Mr. McLeod has insulted me.

“Taking baseless shots at my character will not help restore his reputation,” said Johnson, of rural Hopkins in Richland County. “I hope he gets the help he needs.”

At a bond hearing following his arrest in May, McLeod’s attorney at the time explained his client’s behavior as stemming from a mental health episode and exhaustion, rather than drugs as officers suggested, The Post and Courier reported.

In a Tuesday court filing, a different attorney, Scott Bischoff, disputed the Charleston Police report altogether, saying McLeod was not “yelling at the top of his lungs” or in his underwear before he was arrested and began ranting to officers.

McLeod told the Gazette that his May arrest was unlawful but declined to go into more detail.

“My obligation is the voters of South Carolina, and I promise them that long before they go to the polls, they will know my side of the story,” he told the Gazette.

According to his lawyer’s filing, McLeod was rehearsing a political speech on an empty street near his house at the tip of Charleston’s peninsula when officers approached him and was wearing shorts with pockets, not underwear. Citing body cam footage, Bischoff said the officers did not witness any disorderly conduct before they arrested McLeod.

“There is no evidence he rambled incoherently or was loud and boisterous at that time and therefore there was no lawful reason for the officers to stop him much less place him in handcuffs,” according to the filing.

The filing said the officers failed to tell McLeod why he was being arrested before they handcuffed him, as the law requires.

“We have asked the city to conduct an internal affairs investigation regarding the officers that were involved in this case on account of over a dozen violations,” Bischoff said at a press conference Tuesday.

A judge will now rule on the motion to dismiss the charge.

In August, the Charleston Police Department released a nearly 35-minute video of McLeod from the night he was arrested that showed him shirtless and yelling in the back of a police car. During the profanity-laced rant on a variety of grievances, McLeod threatened to kick in the teeth of political opponents, said the U.S. president was likely his cousin, and called himself “one of the most just humans to ever walk this soil.” At one point, he repeated a racial slur used against Black people.

The department released the video to media outlets, including the Gazette, in response to open records requests. It did not respond to Thursday phone and email requests for comment.

After the video’s release, Spain discouraged McLeod from continuing his campaign in a statement posted on social media.

“Mullins McLeod is a skilled attorney, a former county Democratic Party chair who worked tirelessly for our values, and a member of a proud Lowcountry family with a long tradition of public service,” she 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.”

McLeod is well-known for his legal work and was one of the lawyers who helped negotiate an $88 million settlement for the survivors and families of the nine victims killed by an avowed racist in 2015 at Charleston’s oldest Black church.

He also ran for governor in 2010 but suspended his campaign about four months before the Democratic primary.

McLeod, the first Democrat to announce a 2026 run for the Governor’s Mansion, is largely self-financing his campaign so far. Of the $1.4 million he’d raised as of Sept. 30, 94% was his own money, according to his latest campaign filing.

Johnson only has an initial filing showing $2,800 raised on Oct. 28, when he launched his campaign.

No Democrat has won a statewide race in South Carolina since 2006. It’s been 27 years since voters elected a Democrat as governor.

The five announced Republicans vying for the Governor’s Mansion are Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and Attorney General Alan Wilson.

The primaries are still six months away. Candidates can’t officially file to be on the ballot until mid-March.