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by WILL FOLKS
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Despite intense pressure from unknown leaders within the South Carolina Democrat Party (SCDP) establishment encouraging him to drop out of the Palmetto State governor’s race, state representative Jermaine Johnson is staying “in.”
“For the long haul,” he added.
On Friday of this week (March 20, 2026), we reported that Democrat leaders were pushing Johnson to abandon his bid so as to clear a path for their preferred candidate, wealthy Upstate businessman William M. “Billy” Webster IV.
Johnson, 39, of Hopkins, S.C., appeared to be buckling to the pressure, too.
“By now I’m sure all of y’all have probably heard these rumors that I was considering getting out of the race,” Johnson said in a video posted to X shortly after our story broke in wide circulation. “And to be honest, I was. I had a statement prepared this morning to release to the media.”
“But y’all have spoken,” the third-term lawmaker added. “The people of South Carolina have overwhelming spoken up. And I went ahead and tore that statement up.”
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Long story short South Carolina, your voices were heard and we are still in this to build the #NewSC together. pic.twitter.com/XUpT1SfSKm
— Jermaine Johnson ?? (@Dr_JLJohnson) March 21, 2026
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“I’m in this for the long haul,” Johnson continued. “I’m standing with y’all to make sure that we are building a new South Carolina together because we’ve got some issues to address in this state and the people of South Carolina, they are ready for somebody like me – and y’all have made that plain and clear.”
According to Johnson, party leaders have been buckling to “outside pressures” which insist the Palmetto State will never elect a black man governor.
“Let’s make sure we don’t allow these outside pressures to continue coming in and trying to say that South Carolina isn’t ready for a black man to be governor because you all have said it plain and clear – you’re ready for a new South Carolina,” Johnson said.
Johnson did not specify what he meant by “outside pressures,” nor did he indicate how these external forces were aligned with the party insiders seeking to push him out of the race.
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No stranger to long electoral odds, Johnson defeated multiple Democrat incumbents in back-to-back elections for the S.C. General Assembly. The former College of Charleston basketball star has received the support of numerous key Democrat constituencies, including the backing of organized labor.
As of this writing, Johnson is one of two announced Democrat candidates for governor of the Palmetto State. He is the only black candidate seeking the nomination of either major party.
Johnson is expected to file his paperwork to run with the S.C. Election Commission (SCVotes) early next week.
Also seeking the Democrat nomination is Charleston, S.C. trial lawyer Mullins McLeod, although it’s worth pointing out the SCDP previously insisted he exit the race after he used the ‘N-word’ during an unhinged, profanity-laced rant in the back of a Charleston, S.C. patrol car last year.
For more on that incident, click here.
Despite this scandal – and his uneven response to it – McLeod filed his paperwork to seek the Democrat nomination earlier this week.
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As for Webster, who made his fortune in the payday lending industry, his interest in the Democrat nomination was first reported by our media outlet earlier this month. He has yet to formally file his paperwork to run for governor, but has until 12:00 p.m. EDT on Monday (March 30, 2026) to do so.
Upstate Democrats are less than enthralled with the speculation surrounding Webster’s candidacy – to say nothing of the bid to oust Johnson from the race.
“Black voters in Greenville deserve better than this,” former party leader Jalen Elrod wrote on X.
Elrod’s concerns about black voters being taken for granted by the SCDP have been borne out in the numbers. According to SCVotes data, only 390,479 non-white voters cast ballots in the most recent election for statewide offices in 2022 – down nearly 20 percent from 2018 (and lagging more than 30 percent behind white voter turnout).
How these trend lines move in the upcoming statewide races will be incredibly interesting to follow…
As we often note, no Democrat has won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006 – and no Democrat has won a governor’s race since 1998. The last Democrat gubernatorial nominee, former U.S. congressman Joe Cunningham, received an abysmal 40.67% of the vote in 2022.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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4 comments
“Have overwhelming spoke up” ? Obviously a product of the public school system in SC.
Glad to hear you are sticking with it, Mr Johnson! Hang in there and good luck to you, Sir!
“… have overwhelmingly *spoken* up.”.
If you’re quoting someone, quote them correctly.
Shoddy, shoddy editing. In the video he clearly says “have overwhelmingly spoken up” and yet twice the article misquotes him