ENDORSEMENT SPARKS NASTY EXCHANGE …
Twenty-two of South Carolina’s forty-six State Senate races saw competitive primary elections last week – and six of those multi-candidate battles have gone to runoffs.
In South Carolina, partisan primary races featuring three or more candidates are only decided if one of them wins a majority of votes cast. If not, then the two leading vote-getters square off two weeks later in a runoff.
One of the six runoff races set for June 28 involves S.C. Senate district 12 (map here) – which includes parts of Greenville and Spartanburg counties.
S.C. Senator Lee Bright is the incumbent in this district, and led a four-person field with 37.7 percent of the vote last week.
That’s pretty weak for a two-term incumbent.
Finishing in second place with 26.5 percent was former S.C. Rep. Scott Talley – the only candidate in the Palmetto State whose personal financial history is every bit as disastrous as that of the man he’s trying to replace.
Seriously … choosing between Bright and Talley to watch over the public treasury is like trying to decide whether to let a drunk or a stoner drive your kids carpool.
Obviously we don’t have a dog in this fight. Bright is generally a good vote on the issues that matter to us, while Talley was – and would be – a terrible vote.
But Bright has some serious issues – personally and legislatively – and that’s before we even get to his own disastrous personal financial history.
Anyway, the third-place finisher in the race – businessman David McCraw – apparently does have a dog in this fight. In fact he endorsed Talley last week, a decision which led to an alleged angry encounter with an individual who challenged him on social media.
According to a statement from McCraw’s alleged victim – William R. Norwood III – the former candidate threatened him during a face-to-face meeting in the aftermath of the endorsement.
During this encounter, Norwood claimed McCraw – who drew 23 percent of the vote – told him supporters of the U.S. Constitution were “ignorant” and “100 percent nuts.”
After Norwood provided audio recordings of their encounter to a local media outlet, McCraw allegedly sent him a threatening text message at 2:41 a.m. the next morning.
In the message, McCraw allegedly told Norwood he was “from the springs” – a reference to Boiling Springs, S.C. – and that his day was “coming soon.”
Here is the text of the message …
You are a pussy. your day is coming soon. Don’t forget I’m from the springs. you never know which direction it may from from or I’m (sic) may just have a convo in person.
LOL. “The springs.”
Here is a copy of the statement Norwood provided to Spartanburg county sheriff’s deputies in the aftermath of the incident …
(Click to enlarge)
(Pic provided)
Gotta love Palmetto politics, right?
We reached out to a spokesperson for McCraw seeking comment but none was immediately forthcoming. Should he have something to say in response to Norwood’s allegations, we’ll be sure to pass it along.
Obviously we don’t expect this story to impact the Bright-Talley runoff race that much as it doesn’t directly bear on the lack of fitness for office of either candidate.
We just think it’s funny …