A Democratic congressional candidate from South Carolina who recently admitted to abuse has refused to withdraw from the race, leaving his fellow Democrats stuck with a congressional nominee they refuse to support.
Archie Parnell, who admitted to abusing his ex-wife 45 years ago, announced this week that he is officially not leaving the race to win the Democratic nomination in South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, CNN reports.
Parnell faces three other Democrats who are running against him in Tuesday’s primary. However, they suffer from low name recognition and a lack of funds and resources, which is why he is expected to win the primary and go on to face incumbent Republican Representative Ralph Norman.
This is not the first time that Parnell has run against Norman. Parnell lost to him in the 2017 special election to replace Mick Mulvaney by little under three points. Even if he wins the primary now, the Democratic candidate is highly unlikely to receive any support from other party members, who say they’d still wish for him to drop out.
Nonetheless, Parnell’s name will appear on the ballot in the South Carolina primary on June 12.
The South Carolina Democratic candidate was accused by his ex-wife of beating her and in the 1973 divorce records, she also accuses him of breaking into an apartment where friends were shielding her from then-college student Parnell.
Following the revelation, Parnell remained mostly silent, apologizing for his actions only recently and adding that he was staying in the race regardless.
“If I withdraw, I would be telling anyone who makes a terrible mistake that that one terrible mistake will define them for the rest of their lives,” Parnell said in a video posted to his campaign Facebook page. “It is the voters of the 5th District who should decide the outcome of this election and not me or certain Democratic Party officers. We all have the capacity to change and be better.”
Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the South Carolina Democratic Party said they have not changed their stance and will continue to call on Parnell to withdraw his candidacy.
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