Longtime solicitor David Pascoe officially launched his bid for South Carolina attorney general Monday with a pledge to root out Statehouse corruption.
He’ll make his pitch from the Statehouse lobby Tuesday as part of his two-day campaign swing through the state.
As the First Circuit solicitor, Pascoe is the chief prosecutor for Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties. He’s running to be the state’s top prosecutor in a race that is wide open for the first time in 16 years.
Republican Alan Wilson, first elected attorney general in 2010, is running for governor.
Elected as a Democrat for two decades, Pascoe switched to the Republican Party in April as he publicly mulled a bid for attorney general. This week’s announcement makes him the second candidate to officially enter the race to replace Wilson in 2026.
State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, was the first to get in the running last month. Other Republicans publicly considering a run include David Stumbo, the Eighth Circuit solicitor (for Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry counties), and attorney Henry McMaster Jr. The governor’s son told the SC Daily Gazette he’ll make a final decision later this fall.
When Pascoe switched parties, Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain accused him of doing so solely to help his chances for attorney general in a state ruled by Republicans. South Carolina hasn’t elected a Democrat as attorney general in 35 years. And no Democrat has won any statewide office since 2006.
But Pascoe, first elected solicitor in 2004, said the Democratic Party deserted him by taking positions opposite from his own.
In his campaign video, he paints himself as a tough-on-crime prosecutor who supports the death penalty.
“I’ve put monsters behind bars — murderers, wife beaters, child molesters, drug dealers, and illegal immigrants,” he said in the video.
Investigating corruption
Pascoe has built a reputation for prosecuting misbehaving politicians since 2014, when Wilson handed him an ethics investigation into the then-House speaker.
Against Wilson’s wishes, Pascoe expanded the case into the largest Statehouse corruption investigation since the FBI’s Operation Lost Trust — the 1990s case that resulted in the convictions of 17 legislators and seven lobbyists.
When Pascoe sought to broaden the probe, Wilson tried unsuccessfully to fire him, arguing Pascoe didn’t have the authority to open a state grand jury to investigate further.
The state Supreme Court sided with Pascoe in 2016, allowing his investigation to continue. But five years later, ruling on a former legislator’s appeal of his conviction, justices determined Pascoe had indeed overstepped his authority. Wilson then gave the case to another solicitor to complete the prosecution.
“If we’re going to clean up Columbia for good, I need the full authority to finish what I started,” Pascoe said in his campaign video.
The investigation ultimately brought down a GOP powerbroker and six Republican legislators. One went to prison for less than six months. Others resigned as part of plea deals, received probation and paid fines.
Judicial reform
More recently, Pascoe has testified at the Statehouse and stood with solicitors of both parties to push for changes in how the state selects judges.
South Carolina is one of two states where nearly all judges are elected by legislators.
Pascoe pushed to remove legislators who are also lawyers from the panel that screens judicial candidates, arguing they have too much influence over the judges who later oversee their cases.
The compromise ultimately approved by the Legislature last year set term limits for members of the screening panel, rather than outright barring lawyer-legislators from participating.
The law also gave the governor appointees on the panel, instead of continuing to let legislative leaders make all the picks.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
