Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod making another run for South Carolina governor

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – A Charleston attorney who unsuccessfully ran for South Carolina governor over a decade ago is launching another bid for the state’s top office.

William “Mullins” McLeod, 53, announced his candidacy early Monday morning, casting himself as a “servant leader” and political outsider ready to root out corruption in Columbia.

“I believe there’s a job that needs to be done and it needs to be done now,” McLeod said in a three-and-a-half-minute video posted to YouTube. “You see that job is curing a cancer that has infiltrated our state government over the last 25 years. The name of that cancer is corruption.”

His campaign website outlines a wide-ranging agenda, including raising teacher pay, offering tax deductions for childcare, and increasing training for law enforcement officers. He advocates for a middle-ground approach on abortion, keeping it “safe and legal” in critical situations but reducing the need for it through adoption support and healthcare access.

But his platform also breaks with Democrats on a few issues, including a call to bring “common sense back to athletics” by not allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.  

McLeod is the first Democrat to officially enter the race to replace Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who cannot run again due to term limits. Richland State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, who launched an exploratory committee in early June, is also considering a run.  

U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Attorney General Alan Wilson, and State Rep. Josh Kimbrell are currently seeking the Republican nomination.

McLeod is a personal injury attorney with the McLeod Law Group, which has four offices across the state. He has been involved in several high-profile cases, including helping to secure an $88 million settlement for victims of the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church.

He ran unsuccessfully for governor as a Democrat in 2010 and served two terms as chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party.

McLeod was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in early May after authorities said he was behaving erratically near the Battery in downtown Charleston. Those charges were still pending as of Aug. 11, per a city spokesperson.