“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. It’s a tremendous responsibility, but it’s one that I’m excited about.”
State Sen. Mia McLeod, left, stands in the sanctuary of Shiloh Baptist, her family's church, talking with Rev. Coley Mearite, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Bennettsville, S.C. In her challenge of Gov. Henry McMaster, the Columbia Democrat is the first Black woman to seek South Carolina's top job. BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. — Since the country's founding, no Black woman has ever served as a governor in the United States. But South Carolina Democratic state Sen.
McLeod, 52, spoke extensively with AP during a Tuesday tour of her hometown of Bennettsville, a rural hamlet about 100 mi 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.
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.
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