A South Carolina Democrat is calling on a colleague—his party's nominee for U.S. Senate—to resign her seat in the state House and suspend her campaign after a series of leaked remarks emerged with her saying she needed to court gang members and disrespect white people to get votes.
In an op-ed published in South Carolina politics blog FitsNews, South Carolina Representative Justin Bamberg said that state Representative Krystle Matthews should suspend her bid against Republican Senator Tim Scott after video remarks were posted by right-wing outlet Project Veritas depicting Matthews, a Black woman, saying she needed to treat white people "like s***" in order to earn their respect in a larger conversation about how Black candidates change their mannerisms when engaging with white voters.
"Let me tell you one thing," Matthews can be heard saying on the edited video posted to the group's site Wednesday. "You ought to know who you're dealing with. You gotta treat them like sh*t. I mean, that's the only way they'll respect you. I keep them right here, like under my thumbs. Like, you have to. Otherwise they get out of control. Like kids."
In the video, Project Veritas also released jailhouse audio featuring someone it identified as Matthews saying to an inmate that political campaigns need "gangstas" who understand the streets who they can "clean up and put in a suit."
Bamberg, who is also Black, wrote that Matthews' comments and actions were "toxic," and failed to meet the values of the Democratic Party or "the moral standards by which many of us hold ourselves to and strive to live by." He accused Matthews of encouraging gang members to "hide affiliations just for votes," even if it means young Black men will "still find themselves in prison or the graveyard."
"If any of our white counterparts had said the same thing with regards to blacks, the minority community, including myself, would be up in arms calling for that member's immediate resignation," Bamberg wrote. "That is what I am doing today.
"Despite the efforts of some of us, the S.C. General Assembly remains imperfect. Perfection is the goal because that is what people in S.C. deserve. And perfection will never possible if members blatantly spew toxicity grounded in racial animosity, disdain, or pure hatred. Ms. Matthews' words and actions are not reflective of Democrats in S.C., are not reflective of myself or my values, and are not reflective of the progress so many of us in this state work every day to achieve."
Newsweek reached out to Matthews for comment.
It is the second time the organization has published content involving Matthews this year, following the release of a jailhouse recording over the summer in which Matthews appeared to advocate accepting drug money to support her campaign.
"I don't care about no dope money, give me that dope boy money," Matthews was heard saying on the call. "Where the duffle bag boys?"
Matthews publicly apologized before calling on Democrats to unify around her, saying that Democrats are too often "distracted or redirected" in pursuit of a common goal.
Matthews, who flipped her Statehouse seat from Republican control in 2018, has been redistricted into a much more conservative district this cycle, and stands to lose her House seat in November's elections.
With just $30,000 in cash and more than $15,000 in debts entering the summer, according to campaign finance reports, her campaign also faces a significant fundraising disadvantage against Scott, one of the U.S. Senate's most formidable fundraisers and a heavy favorite for a seat Democrats have not won since Senator Fritz Hollings, who left office in 2005.
The South Carolina Republican Party has already signaled its intention to target Matthews in November's elections.
"This is overtly racist. Point blank. Period," South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said in a statement on Thursday. "What happens when a white family in her district needs help? Does Matthews assist them, or does she treat them like crap? The fact that the question even has to be asked is more than enough to call for her resignation."
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