Washington (CNN)National and South Carolina Democrats could be stuck with a congressional nominee they refuse to support after the state’s primary Tuesday due to the candidate’s refusal to exit the race after news of his abusive past surfaced.
Archie Parnell, the Democratic candidate who admitted to abusing his ex-wife 45 years ago, announced this week that he is officially staying in the race to win the Democratic nomination in South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.
Parnell was expected to win Tuesday’s primary handily and go on to face incumbent Republican Rep. Ralph Norman. Parnell ran against Norman in the 2017 special election to replace Mick Mulvaney, who left the district to serve in the Trump administration. Parnell lost to Norman by a little under three points, making it one of the closest congressional races in the country last year.
There are three other Democrats running against Parnell in the primary, but they suffer from low name recognition and a lack of funds and resources. Parnell may still win the primary, but party members say they’d still wish for him to drop out and will not change their minds about stripping support.
Parnell’s decision to stay in the race comes after most of his campaign staff left him, both the the national and state Democratic Party called for him to withdraw from the race and local supporters tried to distance themselves from the candidate.
Parnell’s name will appear on the ballot in the South Carolina primary on June 12 no matter what happens between now and then, as people were already…
