Now that we are days from filing, it is the moment when those who claim they are ready to fight step forward and prove it. It is where courage meets commitment, where resources meet resolve, and where candidates decide whether they are truly built to go the distance. By every indication, Mullins McLeod has shown he is prepared to do exactly that. When asked by a staffer whether he intended to step aside, McLeod reportedly replied that he was taking this campaign “all the way to the verdict” — a lawyer’s way of saying he intends to see this fight through and let the people decide.
As filing day draws near, another piece of testimony enters the record: a respected Black legislator with decades of community service and credibility has stepped forward as a character witness for Mullins McLeod.
That witness is State Representative Wendell Gilliard.
In less than two weeks, on March 16, the filing period opens for South Carolina’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. This is when campaigns stop speculating and start taking inventory. Candidates are counting their cash. They are measuring whether they truly have the resources to fight. They are making last-minute calls to donors, checking whether the staff is in place, and seeing who is willing to stand beside them when the race becomes real.
Some candidates are deciding whether they are getting in. Others are deciding whether it is time to get out.
Because filing is the line where talk ends and the campaign actually begins. Talking about running is cheap. Running a campaign is expensive. It requires money, organization, stamina, and the kind of public support that tells voters you are not standing alone.
And as campaigns across South Carolina take that measure of themselves, State Representative Wendell Gilliard has already made his position clear. In a video released on Facebook, Gilliard spoke plainly about Mullins McLeod’s record and his own decision to stand beside him, telling those gathered, “Now the question begs, are we going to be there for him? I could be the first to tell you — I’m in line.”
I spent a decade in the South Carolina legislature. I have covered South Carolina politics as a journalist. I have seen lawmakers calculate. I have seen them posture. I have seen them disappear when fights became inconvenient.
Wendell Gilliard does not disappear.
Wherever the fight was, he was there.
When workers were mistreated, he was there.
When communities demanded answers, he was there.
When Mother Emanuel faced tragedy, he was there.
Not for cameras. Not for applause. For the people.
Born and raised in Charleston, shaped in union halls as a steelworker and labor leader, Wendell Gilliard did not rise through political grooming or insider connections. He was not the product of nepotism or the choice of political elites. No corporate interests anointed his path. He came up through the ranks of service, shoulder to shoulder with working families whose struggles shaped his voice and his politics.
He is not a self-made politician.
He is a community-made man, forged in the everyday battles of working people.
He served on Charleston City Council before entering the State House in 2009, earning a reputation for speaking plainly and standing firm.
He has been honored for race relations and community leadership not because he played it safe, but because he showed up.
So when Gilliard says, “We judge people by their deeds,” that is not politics. That is a standard.
And when he says of Mullins McLeod, “This gentleman is not a politician, he’s a public servant,” that is testimony.
He reminded those gathered that when Mother Emanuel faced unspeakable loss, Mullins McLeod was there. He did not hesitate. He brought his knowledge and service to the community.
That is not a headline.
That is character.
Gilliard is not a man who can be bought or bossed. He is not a man who takes orders from political elites. He has spent decades fighting for working families, seniors, and neighborhoods too often overlooked in the corridors of power at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia.
He gains nothing by this endorsement except standing by what he believes.
That is why it carries weight.
Consider the alignment.
A former union leader who understands the grind of working families stands behind a candidate advocating an $18 minimum wage. That is not a coincidence. That is philosophy meeting philosophy. That is labor recognizing labor. That is servant leadership, recognizing someone who has forced powerful institutions to answer for their actions.
Five minutes of video will never tell you that story.
A lifetime of deeds will.
That should give voters pause.
Because if you want to understand a candidate, do not just watch a clip. Watch who stands beside him when it costs something.
And now Gilliard’s question lingers:
“He was there for the community. He was there for the state. Now the question begs, are we going to be there for him?”
That question is not for party insiders.
It is for us, South Carolina Democratic voters.
We know what it means to be judged quickly. We know what it means to have context stripped away. We also know what it means to remember who showed up when it mattered.
Because when Wendell Gilliard speaks, it is not at the direction of consultants or political convenience. It is in defense of community, conviction, and the kind of leadership that cannot be manufactured.
