SC Rep. Matthews won’t resign or suspend Senate bid after leaked video, campaign says

South Carolina Rep. Krystle Matthews, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, says she has no plans to step down from her House seat or suspend her Senate campaign against, despite calls from even within own party to do so.

The Berkeley Democrat is facing pressure to resign after Project Veritas, a right-wing organization that secretly tapes progressive politicians and edits the tapes often showing a politician in an unflattering light, released a second video this week of Matthews making disparaging comments about white people.

“You ought to know who you’re dealing with. You’ve got to treat them like sh--. That’s the only way they’ll respect you,” Matthews says in the recording, noting she lives in a mostly white town and her district leans Republican. “I keep them right here, like under my thumbs. That’s where I keep them. You have to. Otherwise they get out of control like kids.”

South Carolina Republicans, including the attorney general, jumped on her comments demanding she resign.

So did state Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, who serves in the House with Matthews.

“No candidate, let alone a sitting member of the S.C. House, should encourage or joke about violating state or federal election laws just to get extra votes,” Bamberg said in a statement. “She did that. Gangs in our state are too often responsible for the unnecessary loss of life and wasting of brilliant minds for so many young men in the black community.

“Washington D.C. does not need more toxicity and neither does South Carolina. Ignorance is not bliss,” he added.

Matthews campaign said she has no plans to resign or suspend her Senate campaign.

So far, Bamberg remains the only member of the House Democratic Caucus to call on Matthews to resign, but Bamberg told reporters Thursday that many in the caucus are talking about it.

He was joined later Thursday by Joe Cunningham, the Democratic nominee for governor.

“There is absolutely no place in our political discourse for the kind of rhetoric I heard from Rep. Matthews in the video in question,” Cunningham said. “The Democratic Party cannot and should not tolerate such behavior from our elected officials and candidates and we must be consistent in calling out prejudice and hateful comments wherever it exists.”

Unlike the Senate, the House is not currently in session.

House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The State newspaper that Matthews’ comments were wrong, he does not support them nor does he support her saying them.

“I don’t think there’s any place in politics for her type of comments, but I have not verified the authenticity of her statement, and as a criminal lawyer, I believe that everybody deserves a chance to tell their story,” the Richland Democrat said. “I think that the people of South Carolina deserve more than that. I think she needs to answer for her comments.”

Rutherford continued, “No one in the Democratic Caucus supports her comments and she owes every one an apology. But it’s up to the voters who send her (here), and we’ve seen far worse from the Republican Party and nothing on their behalf to get members to apologize, even racist statements that came from their own president.”

In her statement Thursday, Matthews demanded Project Veritas release the entire recording of her conversation with the undercover reporter.

“Regardless of race, I love everyone. One thing you can learn from Project Veritas’s first audio attack on me, is obviously I have no biases toward a certain ethnic group,” Matthews said in her statement. “I expressed my disgust for Black legislators who exhibit the same hypocrisy as MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans.”

This is the second time this year Project Veritas published remarks from Matthews that have drawn ire.

Earlier this year, Matthews was recorded on a phone call with a South Carolina inmate, where she mentioned the use of drug money to help her campaign.

“Where the f--- is my Black people with money?” Matthews says on the call. “I don’t care about no dope money. Give me that dope boy money. S--- where the f---ing dope? Where are the duffel bag boys. Get you, find me someone from your family that don’t even know you donating to my campaign and put that s--- under they names.”

Matthews, who is Black and is an engineering planner who was elected to the House in 2018, is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in a long-shot campaign to knock off Republican Sen. Tim Scott.

In her statement Thursday, Matthews said she never said she would be an “orthodox candidate.”

“Unfortunately, serving in the State House has given me a direct view of the treachery a lot of the legislators I previously had respect for are indulging in,” she said.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson said state law prevents party executive committees from replacing a candidate on the ballot in this type of situation and the decision remains with voters.

“This is obviously a serious distraction from other Democratic candidates running for office and most importantly a distraction from the Republicans in the General Assembly who are trying take away the freedom and the rights of women from women,” Robertson said, referring to the ongoing abortion debate. “If I were advising her campaign, I would tell her that because of what’s happening in the General Assembly that she needs to focus on winning reelection to the State House of Representatives.”

Robertson declined to comment on Matthews’ Senate campaign.

Senior editor Maayan Schechter contributed to this report.