Annabelle Robertson
While the first round of voting in the Democratic primary for U.S. House of Representatives in District 2 is over, it appears the caustic, acrimonious showdown between Sean Carrigan and Annabelle Robertson will be a fight to the bitter end as the race heads to a runoff.
Sean Carrigan
Robertson, a progressive activist and attorney, picked up 42 percent of the vote in the June 12 primary, edging Carrigan, a real estate agent and retired military veteran, who picked up 40 percent. However, neither congressional hopeful was able to get to a majority, chiefly because Phil Black was in the Democratic race. Black, a former Republican who has a number of views not commonly associated with the Democratic Party, nabbed 18 percent of the vote. And so Robertson and Carrigan will now meet in a June 26 runoff.
The race between Robertson and Carrigan is contentious, with each camp recently telling Free Times that they think the other side is running a “smear” campaign. It’s been a showdown filled with anonymous Twitter accounts, corrosive online innuendo from supporters of each side, accusations of misogyny and more, all in an effort to earn the right to face Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, an eight-term incumbent, in November’s general election.
Wilson turned back Democratic opponent Arik Bjorn by 25 percentage points in the 2016 general election, and beat Black by 27 percent in 2014.
In a conversation with Free Times, Carrigan addressed a recent letter that has circulated, one that accuses “representatives of the Carrigan campaign” of “unprecedented sexist political bullying, including bogus legal threats, bogus ethics complaints, ‘slut shaming,’ attempts to physically intimidate [Robertson], her daughter and her supporters,” and cyberbullying, among other claims. The letter in question was issued May 31, and it was signed by 12 progressive women, including state Working Family Party chairwoman Susan Smith and South Carolina AFL-CIO president emerita Donna DeWitt, among others. Carrigan told Free Times he received reports that the letter was being passed around outside some polling places in the district during the June 12 primary.
While the letter does not cite any specific instances, sources have offered that the letter refers at least in part to an anonymous Twitter account — one that had just over 600 followers, as of June 17 — that has been lambasting Robertson for months. The account has released legal documents related to Robertson, called into question abuse she says she suffered in a past relationship, and called her a “sociopath,” among many other things.
Carrigan says, in reference to the letter accusing his campaign of sexism, that “folks are being tricked, they are being hoodwinked, they are being bamboozled, to borrow the Malcolm X line.” He said the letter is an effort to “smear [his] name” and called it “Atwater-like,” referencing late, infamous political operative Lee Atwater.
“I am not a sexist, nor a misogynist,” Carrigan says. “I am a feminist. I have two daughters, I have a wife and I have a mother that are living with me. Those four people, in addition to many, many other women, are very important to me. I am a feminist. … And, no, I had nothing to do with that Twitter account.”
Robertson says she stands behind the letter issued by the women’s group, adding that she has received anonymous emails telling her to drop out of the race, and threatening her and her children if she doesn’t.
“I have been deeply disappointed at the silence of the political community throughout this smear campaign,” Robertson says. “I am grateful that a group of courageous women finally stepped up to denounce what is being done to me.”
One intriguing aspect of the race is that each candidate thinks their political positioning is the right way to attack, and bring down, Wilson in the fall.
Carrigan, who heavily touts his military background and told The State in April that others have referred to him as a “John Deere Democrat,” considers himself a moderate Democrat. He thinks that’s the tack needed to beat the conservative Wilson. Robertson, meanwhile, says she’s a progressive Democrat — notwithstanding some critics who claim she’s a Republican in disguise, citing her previous identification with that party.
“She’s claiming to be a progressive socialist,” Carrigan says, characterizing Robertson. “I claim to be a middle-of-the-road moderate. ... The last [Democrat] who took the fight to Joe Wilson and had a chance was Rob Miller, who got within [eight] points. He was a moderate, and a Marine. I’m very similar to him.”
Miller lost to Wilson by eight percentage points in 2008. The two met again in 2010, and Wilson won by 10 points.
Robertson, who has worked in this race to position herself to the left of Carrigan, says she doesn’t think a middle-of-the-road Democrat would fare well against Wilson.
“The bottom line is, we have been running centrist male candidates against Joe Wilson every election and every election we lose,” Robertson says. “My message and my qualifications resonate with voters and the [June 12 primary] shows that. The people are ready to take back this district from Joe Wilson.”
