Top Democrats in South Carolina are urging the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, state Rep. Krystle Matthews, to drop out of her race against Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) after an audio recording of her was released that showed her making racist remarks about white people.
Conservative activist group Project Veritas released the video of Matthews sitting in a restaurant while speaking to one of their undercover operatives in which Matthews states that she represents a “mostly white” district as a state representative and that she keeps white people “under my thumbs” or else “they get out of control.”
In another portion of the video, Matthews says that its important to treat white people “like s***” to get respect from them.
“My district is slightly Republican, and it’s heavily white. I’m no stranger to white people; I’m from a mostly white town. And let me tell you one thing. You oughta know who you’re dealing with, like — you gotta treat them like s***, like I mean that’s the only way they’ll respect you.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Candidate @kmforsenate [D-SC]: "Treat them[white people] like sh*t” pic.twitter.com/bWFNo8hzxD
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) September 7, 2022
The Associated Press reported that Matthews acknowledged that the voice in the recording was her and falsely claimed that Project Veritas was a “satirical MAGA Powered news outlet.”
Democrats, including gubernatorial nominee Joe Cunningham and state Rep. Justin Bamberg, slammed Matthews for her racist remarks.
“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 said.
Cunningham told the AP that “there is absolutely no place in our political discourse” for Matthews’ racist remarks and that “the Democratic Party cannot and should not tolerate such behavior from our elected officials and candidates.”
State Sen. Brad Hutto, Democrats’ leader in that chamber, told the AP: “When candidates of either party start making irresponsible statements, beyond what party they’re from, they need to reevaluate their candidacy, and that’s what needs to happen here.”
Trav Robertson, chairman of the state’s Democrats, said that Matthews was “becoming a distraction to other Democrats on the ballot” and that she should “focus on her getting reelected to the (state) House of Representatives” instead of running for U.S. Senate.
In other recordings, Matthews discussed using “dope” money to fund campaigns and called for the use of “secret sleepers” to infiltrate the state’s Republican Party to change the party.
“This is the only way you’re going to change the dynamic in South Carolina,” says Representative Matthews. “You’ve got to find some folks that are a little bit polished, maybe are not, you know, nobody really knows them that well. Maybe they haven’t been really politically active, but we need some secret sleepers. Like we need them to run as the other side even though they’re for our side. And we need them to win.”
South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick responded to Matthews’ controversies by saying that she “has made it clear she is unfit to hold public office.”
“First she called for ‘dope boy money’ and illegal straw donors to her U.S. Senate campaign, and now we hear her advocating for treating white people ‘like s***’ or otherwise ‘they get outta control like kids,’” McKissick added.