SC Lawmaker Makes History As 1st Black Woman To Run For Gov
(AP) — Since the country’s founding, no Black woman has ever served as a governor in the United States. But South Carolina Democratic state Sen. Mia McLeod says she’s the person who can change that, despite the fact that Democrats haven’t been elected to a statewide office there in 15 years.
“I want to be the person that is running not because I’m a woman, and not because I’m Black, but because I am so connected to and so much like the people that I represent,” McLeod, a Columbia-area lawmaker, told The Associated Press ahead of Thursday’s official 2022 campaign launch. “It’s a tremendous responsibility, but it’s one that I’m excited about.”
McLeod, 52, spoke extensively with AP during a Tuesday tour of her hometown Bennettsville, a rural hamlet about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of the state capital. It’s the seat of Marlboro County, which has one of the state’s highest unemployment rates. Asked about her top campaign concerns, McLeod cited education and health care, noting the area’s crumbling schools and lack of a hospital since 2015.
“I believe rural counties like mine are a microcosm for what’s happening statewide, when it comes to our rural communities that have been left behind,” she said, arguing that Republicans like Gov. Henry McMaster, in his first full term, had failed the state.
According to University of South Carolina professor Bobby Donaldson, a scholar of Southern history and African American culture, McLeod is the first Black woman to seek South Carolina’s top job. If elected, she would be only its second female governor. She would also be the first-ever Black governor in the state whose constitution was reconfigured during the Jim Crow era, weakening the office in the event that a Black person were ever elected to it.
A state lawmaker for a decade, McLeod was elected to the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2016. A communications consultant, she’s served several state government stints, including director of the Office of Victim Assistance and government affairs director at the state probation department.
In the Senate, McLeod has made recent waves. In spring 2020, as lawmakers returned to Columbia after an abrupt, pandemic-related halt, McLeod stayed away, citing concerns related to her battle with sickle cell anemia and calling Republican leaders’ decision to hold in-person session “tone-deaf” and “deadly” as coronavirus cases rose.
During a contentious debate over this year’s “heartbeat bill,” which would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, McLeod railed against Republicans for opposing exceptions for rape victims, revealing that she had been the victim of sexual assault. The measure became law but is stalled in litigation.
Two other Democrats have already announced gubernatorial bids: activist Gary Votour and Joe Cunningham, who in 2018 flipped his congressional district from red to blue for the first time in decades before losing reelection to Republican Nancy Mace last year.
