S.C. Democrats Asked Jim Demint's Challenger To Withdraw, He Refused

SC Dems Ask Surprise U.S. Senate Candidate (Another Dem) To Withdraw


The chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party is asking Alvin Greene to withdraw as the party's candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Greene shocked almost everyone when he defeated former four-term lawmaker Vic Rawl in Tuesday's primary election.

Greene did not campaign, raised no money and apparently has no job. He lives in Manning, S.C., with his father.

Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler asked Greene to get out of the race after reporters looking into his background quickly discovered he is facing a current Felony Obscenity charge in Richland County.

Greene was charged last November with disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity. The charge involves allegations he showed obscene material to a female student at the University of South Carolina.

NewsChannel 36 spoke briefly on the phone with Greene, who said he was too busy at the time to answer questions. Later calls to his phone went unanswered.

In York County, Richards McCrae, the chair of the Democratic Party said, "Every Democratic Party official in the state of South Carolina is shocked that he won the primary."

In asking Greene to get out of the race, Fowler, the state party chair, said in a statement, "Democratic voters of this state have the right to select our nominee. But this new information about Mr. Greene would certainly have affected the decisions of many of those voters."

McCrae said Greene had never come to York County to campaign as far as he knew and that Greene had actually lost in the county but by only a relatively slim margin.

Greene told the Associated Press he's the people's choice and he will not step aside.

He will face U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in the general election. DeMint, a conservative Republican and tea party darling pursuing a second term, has marshaled a $3.5 million war chest already to face the bare-pockets Democratic underdog.

Political analysts don't give Greene a chance.


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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, WCNC, Google Maps