Candidate Spotlight: Adrian P. Carter

Democratic candidate for South Carolina House, District 60

When Adrian P. Carter asked her three-year-old son what he thought mommy did for work, his answer was a blunt "nothing." For a Florence native, a public defender, and now a candidate for the South Carolina House, the line stuck. "Running was my something," she says.

Rooted in District 60

Carter grew up in the district she hopes to represent. She attended high school there, and most of her family, including her mother, still lives in the area. She is now raising her son, known to the family as "G3" because he is the third Gary, in the same community where she grew up. When she learned she was pregnant, she says, she wondered whether she would stay, concerned about where society was headed and about raising a brown boy in the South. She chose to stay and fight. "I know that there's more that brings us together than that divides us," she says.

A Public Defender's View of the Law

Before returning to Florence, she worked as a public defender in York County. She notes that the legislature has plenty of attorneys, but few with defense experience. Many, she says, have spent their careers on the prosecution side. She has seen how laws that sound good on paper play out in practice. She points to mandatory minimums for some drug charges that left judges with no discretion, resulting in life sentences for drug offenses.

"Can we call that justice?" she asks. She believes many crime issues are rooted in poverty and failing schools, and she supports rehabilitative programs and alternatives built into the system.

Opening Doors for the Next Generation

Carter is a first-generation college student and the first attorney in her family. She says she didn't know any Black female attorneys growing up and had to figure out the path to law school on her own. Today she mentors young people, coaches a local school's mock trial team, and says she will speak to any group that asks if her schedule allows. She wants young people, especially in parts of the district where few residents personally know a lawyer or doctor, to know what options exist. "When I tell people, 'Call me,' I mean that," she says.

Making Work Pay

She grew up in a mobile home and bought her first house within the last year. She says too many people are working two or three jobs and still can't get ahead. South Carolina has no state minimum wage of its own, and she says it may be time to create one. She also wants to help people reach home ownership and find affordable rentals, while acknowledging she doesn't have every answer on issues like corporate home buying.

She also wants more state attention for rural communities between the better-known cities, like the town where her grandmother lives, which has no grocery store. Residents there often drive to Florence or Myrtle Beach for work, and gas costs eat into low wages.

People Over Politics

Asked to sum up her platform in a phrase, she says: "People over politics." She argues that voters agree on more than the party labels suggest, and that elected officials should serve everyone in their district, including those who voted against them.

She is also passionate about civic education. She says she often spends more time explaining what is on the ballot than discussing policy.

Beyond the Campaign Trail

The hardest she laughs these days is at her three-year-old. His latest bewilderment was learning why a classmate gets to keep a birthday present at her house when it isn't his birthday. "It's like everybody, this is his first time on earth," she says. Parenting, she adds, is largely regulating your emotions, especially when you have to hold in a laugh.