Alan McCrory Wilson (born July 16,1973)[1] is an American lawyer,politician,and a member of the South Carolina National Guard serving as the 51st Attorney General of South Carolina since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.
As Attorney General of South Carolina,Wilson has litigated to block same-sex marriage,invalidate the Affordable Care Act,challenge environmental regulations,defend anti-abortion laws,and prohibit masking and vaccine requirements. He has advocated against cannabis decriminalization and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Early life and education
Wilson was born Alan McCrory. His father,Michael Alan McCrory,was an Army captain and Vietnam veteran who died in a military training exercise.[2] His mother,Roxanne Dusenbury McCrory,later married Joe Wilson,who currently serves as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 2nd congressional district. Joe Wilson adopted Alan when he was three,and Alan subsequently took his surname.[3] Along with his three brothers,Alan is an Eagle Scout.[4]
Following college,he joined the South Carolina National Guard. He is currently a Colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps.
Legal career
Wilson interned in the Attorney General's office under Charlie Condon. After law school,he worked for Judge Marc H. Westbrook of the South Carolina Circuit Court. Wilson later served as an Assistant Solicitor and as an Assistant Attorney General. In 2009,he moved to the private sector and started working at the law firm Willoughby &Hoefer in Columbia,South Carolina.
Henry McMaster did not run for reelection as Attorney General,choosing instead to run for governor,[6] as incumbent Mark Sanford was term-limited. Wilson won the Republican nomination in a runoff election on June 22,2010,receiving 60 percent of the vote against his opponent Leighton Lord.[7] Wilson defeated Democratic Party candidate Matthew Richardson in the November 2010 general election.[8]
In 2014,Wilson was reelected,defeating the Democratic nominee,Parnell Diggs.[9]
Wilson won a third term in 2018. In the contentious Republican primary,Wilson faced two challengers for renomination,state Representative Todd Atwater and attorney William Herlong of Greenville.[10] Both challengers focused on ethics issues,criticizing Wilson for his connections to the Quinns,who reached a plea deal after being embroiled in a Statehouse corruption investigation.[11] In the initial Republican primary,Wilson received 48.6%,Atwater received 29.7%,and Herlong received almost 22%;because no candidate received a majority,the nomination was decided by a primary runoff election.[10][12] Although Herlong endorsed Atwater in the runoff,[12] Wilson won renomination,receiving about 65% of the vote to Atwater's 35%.[10] In the 2018 general election,Wilson received about 55% of the vote,defeating the Democratic nominee,Constance Anastopoulo.[11]
Investigation of campaign contributions
In 2013,Wilson self-reported his campaign failed to report at least 84 contributions and expenditures on required public reports. In February 2013,Wilson originally admitted his campaign failed to disclose and report receiving at least 15 separate contributions of unknown amounts.[13] A further investigation in March 2013 revealed at least 68 unreported contributions and 16 unreported expenditures. As the errors were self-reported and the reports were subsequently re-filed,Wilson faced no penalties.[14]
False election-fraud claims
On January 12,2012,Wilson falsely claimed on Fox News that "We found out that there were over 900 people who died and then subsequently voted. That number could be even higher than that."[15][16] These claims were untrue,and an exhaustive investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division found no evidence to support the claims of "zombie voters" in South Carolina.[16]
Same-sex marriage
In 2014,Wilson asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to block the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the state.[17] Wilson waged an exhaustive legal fight to block same-sex marriage in South Carolina,and in 2015,U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ordered Wilson to pay more than $134,000 in attorneys' fees to plaintiffs who successfully challenged the state's ban on same-sex marriage.[18]
Affordable Care Act litigation
Wilson supported lawsuits to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.[19][20][21]
Threatened litigation against DACA
In July 2017,Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a group of Republican attorneys general from nine other states,including Wilson,plus Idaho Governor Butch Otter,in threatening that they would litigate against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that had been put into place by President Barack Obama.[22][23][24]
In late 2013,a State Law Enforcement Division report focusing on former state House Speaker House Bobby Harrell was transferred to the AG's office. The report mentioned state representatives Rick Quinn Sr. and Rick Quinn Jr. suggesting misconduct by the younger Quinn. In early 2014,Wilson recused himself from the investigation and appointed David Pascoe,the solicitor for the 1st Judicial Circuit,as special prosecutor. Harrell pleaded guilty and resigned from the House in late 2014. Pascoe urged the AG's Office to investigate the Quinns.[25] After Harrell pleaded guilty to misusing campaign money and resigned from the House in late 2014,Pascoe emailed the attorney general's office,urging the Quinns be investigated.[25] Wilson secretly recruited Quinn to assist in drafting a response letter to Pascoe,saying that his role as a special prosecutor was complete;Wilson later said that this was a mistake.[25][26]
In March 2016,after Pascoe continued to use the state grand jury to investigate possible corruption in the General Assembly,Wilson attempted to fire Pascoe,triggering a political firestorm in the state.[25][27][28] Adam Piper,a Wilson aide,launched a secret effort to smear Pascoe.[25][29] Pascoe challenged Wilson's attempt to fire him,arguing that the attorney general could not do so after previously recusing himself on the grounds of a conflict of interest.[28] In July 2016,the South Carolina Supreme Court sided with Pascoe on a 4–1 decision,rejecting Wilson's attempt to fire him as special prosecutor.[25][30] Ultimately,the younger Rick Quinn resigned from office and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge,while the elder Quinn agreed to testify before the state grand jury,and his consulting firm pleaded guilty to failing to register as a lobbyist.[25]
In October 2018,after a two-year investigation,a state grand jury issued a 270-page report on corruption in South Carolina,including blurred relationships between businesses,legislators,lobbyists,and political consultants. The grand jury determined that Wilson's failure to act following the guilty plea of Harrell and the Quinns impeded an investigation into state government corruption,although it made no finding as to Wilson's intent.[31] The investigation and the report focused in part on Wilson's close ties to Richard Quinn,a prominent Republican political strategist in the state,and his son Rick Quinn Jr.,who had been a member of the state House.[25][32] Wilson had paid the elder Quinn's firm more than $220,000 for political strategy services in two election campaigns.[25] Wilson denied wrongdoing and asserted that the 2018 grand jury's report was politically motivated.[31] Judge Clifton Newman ordered that the report be released to the public.[33]
Environmental litigation
In 2021,Wilson joined a Republican lawsuit challenging President Biden's order directing federal agencies to consider the costs of greenhouse gas pollution in making decisions.[34] Wilson also joined another lawsuit challenging Biden's decision to revoke the federal permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline,an oil pipeline project 1,000 miles from South Carolina.[35]
In January 2019,Wilson described cannabis as "the most dangerous drug,because it is the most misunderstood drug" in the United States while denouncing legislation that would allow physicians to prescribe medical marijuana for patients.[39] Wilson was one of 16 state attorneys general who did not support the SAFE Banking Act,which permitted the use of the banking system by cannabis-related businesses in states and territories in which cannabis is legal.[40]
Wilson is the respondent of an ongoing lawsuit which alleges that Wilson and SLED denied him due process when they destroyed his hemp farm.[41]
Efforts to challenge 2020 presidential election outcome
In December 2020,Wilson joined a lawsuit by 16 Republican state attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,specifically by challenging Joe Biden's victory in four states.[42][43] The suit was based on Donald Trump's false claim of election fraud.[43] The next month,in advance of the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol by a pro-Trump mob,the Republican Attorneys General Association,then chaired by Wilson,made robocalls encouraging "patriots" to march on Washington and demand that Congress overturn the election results and keep Trump in power.[42] Wilson later acknowledged Biden as the election's winner on January 11,2021.[42][44] He said he was "completely unaware" of the Republican Attorneys General Association robocalls;the group's executive director,a former Wilson aide Adam Piper,resigned.[42]
Five South Carolina attorneys subsequently filed complaints with the South Carolina Office of Disciplinary Counsel against Wilson,alleging that his participation in the Trump conspiracy lawsuit was an abuse of office that attempted to disenfranchise voters and had the effect of inflaming the subsequent insurrection. Wilson denied wrongdoing.[42][45]
Wilson was one of 20 Republican state attorneys general who claimed that a portion of President Biden's COVID-19 relief package (specifically,a provision that states could not redirect federal stimulus money to reduce state tax rates) was unconstitutional.[46]
In August 2021,ahead of the start of the 2021–2022 school year and amid an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the state,Wilson said that the University of South Carolina could not implement indoor mask requirements for campus access. Wilson contended that a proviso (a type of state budget measure) passed by the General Assembly earlier that year prohibited such a mandate.[47][48] After Wilson's intervention,the university dropped the requirement.[49] However,later the same month,the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that rejected Wilson's interpretation,[50][48] and the University of South Carolina reinstated its mask mandate.[48]
Wilson challenged the Joe Biden administration's vaccine requirement for large businesses.[51]
Personal life
Wilson and his wife,Jennifer (née Miskewicz),a former WIS-TV news reporter,have two children.[1][52] Wilson joined the South Carolina National Guard in 1996 and received the Combat Action Badge for service in Iraq.[4] Wilson's brother,Julian Wilson,is co-owner of the gun manufacturer and retailer Palmetto State Armory.[53]
Electoral history
South Carolina Attorney General Republican Primary Election,2010
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Alan Wilson
150,404
38.94
Republican
Leighton Lord
143,339
37.12
Republican
Robert Bolchoz
92,457
23.94
South Carolina Attorney General Republican Primary Runoff Election,2010
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Alan Wilson
205,851
59.79
Republican
Leighton Lord
138,444
40.21
South Carolina Attorney General Election,2010
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Alan Wilson
716,193
53.74
Democratic
Matthew Richardson
589,135
44.20
Green
Leslie Minerd
27,008
2.03
Write-ins
Write-ins
470
0.04
South Carolina Attorney General Election,2014
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
Republican
Alan Wilson (inc.)
738,434
60.26
Democratic
Parnell Diggs
486,058
39.67
Write-ins
Write-ins
879
0.07
South Carolina Attorney General Republican Primary Election,2018
Henry Dargan McMaster is an American politician and attorney serving as the 117th governor of South Carolina since 2017. A member of the Republican Party,he was the 50th attorney general of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011 and the 91st lieutenant governor of South Carolina from 2015 to 2017 under Governor Nikki Haley.
Ralph Warren Norman Jr. is an American real estate developer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 5th congressional district since 2017. His district includes most of the South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area,along with outer portions of the Upstate and Midlands. A member of the Republican Party,Norman served as the South Carolina state representative for the 48th district from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2017.
Eric Stephen Schmitt is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2023. A member of the Republican Party,Schmitt served from 2017 to 2019 as the 46th State Treasurer of Missouri and from 2019 to 2023 as the 43rd Missouri Attorney General.
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party,he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the eighth district and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of South Carolina on November 4,2014. All of South Carolina's executive officers were up for election as well as both United States Senate seats,and all of South Carolina's seven seats in the United States House of Representatives.
Leslie Carol Rutledge is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 21st lieutenant governor of Arkansas since 2023. A member of the Republican Party,she was previously the 56th attorney general of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023.
The 2018 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6,2018,to elect the governor of South Carolina. Incumbent Republican governor Henry McMaster,who took office after Nikki Haley resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,ran for election to a full term. The primary was held on June 12,with the Democrats nominating State Representative James E. Smith Jr. McMaster failed to win a majority of the vote,and then defeated John Warren in the Republican runoff on June 26. In the general election,McMaster defeated Smith,winning election to a full term.
William Richardson Timmons IV is an American politician,prosecutor,and Air Force veteran serving as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district since 2019. His district is in the heart of the Upstate and includes Greenville,Spartanburg,and most of their suburbs. A member of the Republican Party,Timmons served as a South Carolina state senator from 2016 to 2018.
Todd Atwater is an American politician who served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 87th district from 2010 to 2018.
Margie Bright Matthews is a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate,representing the 45th District since 2015,when she won a special election to succeed Clementa Pinckney,who was killed in the Charleston church shooting in 2015. She is an attorney who founded a law firm.
Richard A. "Dick" Harpootlian is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the South Carolina Senate from the 20th district from 2018 to 2024. He served as the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2013. He also previously served as solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina from 1991 until 1995.
Richard Quinn Sr. was an American political consultant who,until his death,was under indictment for perjury in a state of South Carolina political corruption case. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant,he advised the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan,John McCain,and Lindsey Graham. He was known as one of South Carolina's most prominent political consultants. He was once the editor of the Neo-Confederate Southern Partisan magazine although he later recanted the views he held while in that position.
David Michael Pascoe is an American lawyer serving as the First Circuit Solicitor in the state of South Carolina since 2005. The First Circuit comprises Dorchester,Calhoun,and Orangeburg counties. In 2016,Pascoe won a Supreme Court case against the South Carolina Attorney General where the Attorney General attempted to remove Pascoe as the special prosecutor in a corruption probe involving the General Assembly. Pascoe oversaw the investigation and secured convictions on five powerful South Carolina General Assembly members that included the House speaker,President Pro Tem of the Senate,Chairman of the House Judiciary,and two former House Majority Leaders.
Richard Quinn Jr. is an American politician who served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1988 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2017.
Marvin Rashad Pendarvis is an American politician who represented the 113th District in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2017 to 2024. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Texas v. Pennsylvania,592 U.S. ___ (2020),was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in four states in which Joe Biden defeated then-incumbent President Donald Trump.
The South Carolina Heritage Act is a South Carolina statute that forbids the removal or alteration of historic monuments located on public property in South Carolina as well as the rededication of any public areas or structures named after a historic person or event. The historic monuments protected include war monuments as well as monuments representing Native American and African American history.
The 2022 South Carolina Attorney General election took place on November 8,2022,to elect the Attorney General of South Carolina. Incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson won a fourth term. The only two candidates to file for the election were Wilson and another Republican attorney,Lauren Martel.
Andrew Bailey is an American attorney and politician. A Republican,he has served as Missouri Attorney General since he was appointed by Governor Mike Parson in January 2023.
The South Carolina Statehouse corruption investigation was a probe into unlawful interactions between members of the South Carolina General Assembly,the political firm of Richard Quinn,Sr.,and major state institutions and corporations from 2013 to 2021. The influence of Quinn's consulting firm was called the Quinndom. By the end of the investigation,four members of the South Carolina General Assembly were indicted on public corruption charges. This investigation is often considered the most significant political scandal in the history of the state of South Carolina since Operation Lost Trust in 1989. Lost Trust directly influenced the passing of South Carolina's Ethics Reform Act of 1991,and led to the restructuring of the state government in 1993. The investigation raised questions about the effectiveness of that reform in the face of political corruption and dark money influence.
↑ Archived 2013-04-10 at archive.today "SC Attorney General Didn't Report Campaign Contributions", The Columbia Free Times, February 21, 2013.
↑ Archived 2013-03-24 at the Wayback Machine "SC Attorney General discovers $134,000 in unreported contributions, expenses," The State Newspaper, March 22, 2013.
↑ Holdman, Jessica (27 April 2021). "SC's Palmetto State Armory signs tax deal for former West Columbia brake plant". The Post and Courier. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2022. The agreement was signed by the chief financial officer of JJE Capital Holdings, the private equity firm behind Palmetto State Armory helmed by co-owners Jamin McCallum, Edward Laroque and Julian Wilson, the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, and brother of S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.
▌2 Unknown (2 territories) An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity. State abbreviations link to position articles.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
United States Army 
Colonel 
