Wild video shows Democrat pick for South Carolina governor arrested in his underwear
The chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party is calling on Mullins McLeod to discontinue his campaign for governor and focus on his mental health after his nearly 35-minute, profanity-laden rant in the back of a police cruiser became public.
“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,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain said in a statement Wednesday.
Her plea came hours after The Post and Courier first reported on the dashcam video and two days after McLeod became the first Democrat to enter the 2026 governor’s race.
It appears McLeod is not heeding Spain’s advice, with his campaign manager telling the SC Daily Gazette he won’t back away.
“Everything is straight ahead,” said Democratic strategist Cary Cranford. He declined to address McLeod’s mental health.
McLeod did not respond to messages Wednesday left by the SC Daily Gazette. Nor did his criminal defense attorney.
The dashcam video comes from McLeod’s arrest in May on disorderly conduct charges. In it, the 53-year-old personal injury attorney jumps incoherently from one grievance to the next — shouting expletives and accusations for the entire ride against a variety of state and federal lawmakers and using a racial slur. He repeatedly threatens people he doesn’t like — saying he’ll kick their teeth in or let someone else do it — and occasionally yells out “McLeod for governor!”
The high-profile lawyer’s arrest, which made headlines in May, did not stop the Democrat from launching his bid Monday for the Governor’s Mansion. In his three-minute campaign video posted to YouTube, he criticizes “corruption” at the Statehouse. Asked Monday about his arrest, he disputed the police report but declined to go into details. However, he pledged to fully explain what happened before voters go to the polls.
Dash camera footage released from Charleston Police showed what happened after he was placed in the back seat of the cruiser. The department released the video, first to The Post and Courier and then to the SC Daily Gazette, in response to public records requests.
The video starts with McLeod rambling about class-action lawsuits and little money going to victims. When an officer asks for his name, he says all that matters is that he’s “one of the most just humans to ever walk this soil.” When the officer calls him John Doe, McLeod says he’d rather go by Superman.
Once the door closes, he seemingly tells himself, “I can’t connect these dots yet, but if this is going where I think it could be heading, I think I just figured out the president of the United States is my cousin. So, trust me at this point, nothing is crazier either than you and me either being related or you being not guilty. That’s just the way may brain has been trained.”
Then the shouting starts.
The video was taken after officers responded to The Battery at the tip of Charleston’s peninsula about 9:30 p.m. May 14 and found McLeod wearing just underwear and shoes and “yelling at the top of his lungs,” according to the police report, obtained by the Gazette.
The video shows him obviously shirtless. During the ride, officers turn up the radio to a Taylor Swift song, seemingly to try to drown out his ranting. It ends with him reluctantly getting out of the cruiser. Whether he’s wearing boxers or shorts is unclear. His shoes appear to be loafers or slippers.
“I’m not getting out of this car. I’m not doing it,” he says when they arrive at the jail. When the officer asks why he says “because it’s time to go to bed. I’ll sleep right here.”
During the ride, McLeod used partial or full names of a long list of South Carolina officials for what he deems “corrupt” behavior. At one point, he used a vulgarity to describe a Black man.
One of his repeated targets is state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who he references by his full name. The state’s top prosecutor is among five Republicans who have launched a 2026 bid for governor.
“Allen f** Wilson, I’m daring you right now,” McLeod shouts on the video before calling the attorney general out for not doing “the people’s work.”
McLeod then launches into a tirade against “Nancy” — presumably U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, another governor hopeful. He repeatedly calls her a “b****” and says she’s using the playbook of the late Lee Atwater, a Republican strategist notorious for dirty campaign tactics.
“Tell the world right now, what you did in the halls of Congress was the greatest sin ever committed in the history of this nation,” McLeod continues.
He doesn’t say exactly what he’s talking about. But in February, Mace accused her ex-fiancé and three other men of an array of sexual crimes, including raping and videotaping women without their knowledge, during a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. The men have repeatedly denied Mace’s accusations. One sued her. Mace sued another. No criminal charges have been filed.
Wilson’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment from the SC Daily Gazette.
Mace’s spokesperson said McLeod needs help.
He “threatened to violently kick a woman’s teeth in,” Sydney Long said. “Those who promote violence against women should never hold public office. We hope he gets the help he needs.”
Other politicians McLeod mentions include Gov. Henry McMaster, former Gov. Nikki Haley and President Donald Trump. McLeod calls Trump a “racist a,” refers to Haley as a “b**” and appears to call on McMaster to sell the state plane.
He raves about Elon Musk and the Tesla billionaire’s space travel attempts: “I don’t ever want a billion dollars,” he said. “If I had a billion dollars, my stupid a** would try to do something like going to the moon.”
McLeod also rails against Republican donor Wallace Cheves and his efforts to build a casino on property bordering the town of Santee, telling him repeatedly to pack his bags.
Sometimes he praises people. He seems to call former President Barack Obama a smooth talker and endorse former Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer for the U.S. Senate. (Bauer suspended his challenge to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham last week.)
And he refers to his “friend Bakari,” former Democratic state Rep. Bakari Sellers, who he worked alongside to negotiate an $88 million settlement for victims of the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He describes Sellers as someone who can “kick (people) in the gums.”
“The only reason I didn’t let Bakari do the people’s work is because I like a little heavy lifting,” McLeod said.
Asked about the video Wednesday, Sellers said McLeod “needs to explain it” for the sake of his personal and professional relationships.
“I don’t know if there is an explanation,” Sellers told the Gazette. “But that’s on him.”
In a bond hearing following his arrest, McLeod’s lawyer told a judge the erratic behavior stemmed from a mental health episode and exhaustion, The Post and Courier reported.
In her statement, Spain said the party offers McLeod compassion and prays he finds the mental health support he needs.
This is McLeod’s second bid for governor.
In the dashcam video, he referenced his previous run in 2010, saying a friend called him “a class act … maybe the classiest act to ever grace [unintelligible].” But he followed that up by noting the campaign didn’t last long, saying “I got my a** checked in a hurry.”
He dropped out of that race four months before the Democratic primary, endorsing former state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden.
https://scdailygazette.com/2025/08/13/sc-democrats-call-on-charleston-lawyer-to-suspend-campaign-for-governor-following-arrest-video/