Defiant Democrat: Mullins McLeod is determined to sail his gubernatorial campaign into the political storm of his own creation and go down with the ship even when offered a lifeboat

Written by Tony J. Spain, Palmetto Examiner
August 25, 2025

Prominent Charleston lawyer, two-time Charleston County Democrat Party Chairman and current gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod wants to be governor, and he’s telling you why in the back of a police car. If that’s not problematic enough for the South Carolina Democrat Party, McLeod is refusing to drop out of the race, even after state Democrat Party Chairwoman Christale Spain (no relation to this author) has asked him to get out of the race.

“After reviewing the transcript of the dash cam footage from his recent arrest, it is clear that Mr. McCleod is navigating profound challenges and should focus on his mental health and emotional well-being instead of a campaign for governor,” Spain said in a statement shortly after the dash cam footage made it to the media. “We offer him compassion and pray he finds the support he needs.”  

The plea came two days after McLeod became the first Democrat to enter the 2026 governor’s race, and it would appear McCleod has no intentions of taking Spain’s advice and dropping out anytime soon.

In a video posted on his facebook page Mullins tells voters, “I will not stand down.”

“I felt confident they would come for me, because I am a threat to the establishment,” McLeod said in the video statement. “No matter how much they try to silence me. No matter how much they try to get me out of this race, I will not stand down.”

McLeod then talks about how he starts his normal days and recites a morning prayer he says before showering and taking his son to school in a, hey look at me. I’m really normal, like you.

He finishes the video saying he’s going to keep moving forward through what he calls a “political storm.”

“I know the political storm is all around me, but my rudder is true,” he said. “My plan and my purpose has never been clearer. So, I’m going to keep my head down. I’m going to keep working. I’m going to keep being the perfectly imperfect person God made me to be.”

But this political storm is of Mullins' own making. According to the written police report obtained and shared courtesy of FITSNEWS, On the evening of Wednesday, May 14, 2025, an unknown individual was “observed walking along the battery screaming” and could be heard from “approximately one city block away.” The male was “observed to be wearing only his underwear and shoes” as the officer approached him. When asked about his unusual behavior he “began yelling louder and locking out his arms.” When asked for his name since he had no I.D., he replied “God” and “Superman.” He was then arrested and booked as “John Doe.” He was later identified as Mullis McCleod.

Police officers noted his “symptoms to be typical of an individual under the influence of a stimulant narcotic.” While in lock up, Mullins “continued to ramble incoherently and at one point lashed out and kicked another prisoner,” according to the report.

And if the written account wasn’t a storm bad enough, the video and audio from the dashcam footage is the hurricane that is sinking the campaign ship even faster.

In the dashcam video that has gone viral the footage from the Charleston Police paints the picture of what happened after he was placed in the back of the police car. McLeod berates the police officers arresting him, drops several N-bombs, speaks with dead attorneys and hurls threats at his Republican gubernatorial rivals.

The video begins with McCleod rambling about a class-action lawsuits and little money for the victims. When asked for his name by an officer, McCleod says he’s “one of the most just humans to ever walk on soil.”

Once the doors closes, he keeps talking, 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 my brain has been trained.”

Then the yelling and tirade starts.

 “Alan f---ing Wilson, I’m daring you right now, motherf-----. While you’ve got all the teeth in your mouth, you’d better be in front of the people’s house, which my cousin, Dan McLeod, used to have the wheel, you better be outside holding a press conference telling the f---ing world the head you win and tail you win conversation we had.”

McLeod then goes after Nancy, we assume governor hopeful Nancy Mace. He repeatedly calls her a b**ch and says she’s using the playbook of the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater.

“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 in reference to Mace’s scorch of the Earth speech given on the floor of U.S. House of Representatives where she accused her ex-fiance and three other men of several sexual crimes of rape and videotaping women.

McLeod also states, “I don’t ever want a billion dollars. If I had a billion dollars, my stupid a** would try to do something like going to the moon,” in what appears to be a reference to Elon Musk.

Since, McLeod is taking his campaign full steam ahead without apology for any of his actions, doubling down by releasing a video of him walking along the Charleston battery with a few thoughts about what had happened.

Not thoughts of an apology or some kind of rational explanation, but to dispute the police report of him being in his underwear at the time of arrest. 

“The way you can tell the difference between underwear and shorts is underwear does not have two front pockets and drawstrings, McLeod said pulling the pocket lining out of his shorts.

“This is a pair of shorts,” he stated as to add evidence into the court of public opinion, because that’s what matters here, whether he was in his boxers or shorts. It makes all the difference!

He also wants you to know, going shirtless on the beach, well that’s, FREEDOM!

“The second thing I wanted to share with you is…there’s something about being on the water’s edge that makes you feel free. I think that’s why people take their shirts off at the beach—it’s hot—and they feel free. That’s what freedom is all about. On the battery, people walk, run and jog, morning, day and night—oftentimes with their shirts off. Why? Because they’re on the water’s edge and that’s just something that guys do to feel free—and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Apparently, McLeod has decided to go full sail ahead into the political storm of his own creation and go down with the ship to the bottom even when offered a lifeboat off.

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About the Author: Tony Spain is a former candidate for Richland County Council 2020 and an award winning former military photographer and journalist while in the Public Affairs Office for the U.S. Army. His photos and writing have been published in numerous publications such as The Commercial News, Danville, Ill.; The Paraglide, Fort Bragg, N.C.; Soldier of Fortune Magazine; The State Newspaper, Columbia, S.C., and more.

He lives in Columbia, S.C.

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