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This week on the Andrew.

Yang Podcast, you know, I went into the state House saying, well, why in the heck do I want to spend all my time time hanging out with Democrats? I said, because if I'm hanging out with Democrats, we're just gonna be a bunch of bobbleheads and everybody saying yes, yes, yes. And I said, I want to spend some time hanging out with people who are saying no. So I can figure out why are you saying no and can we come to some sort of consensus as to why you're saying no so we can have an agreement as to what we can both say? All right, well, I can kind of live with that, you know, and I think that's what's best for America. That's what's best for South Carolina to really bring people together.

Hey everyone, it is my pleasure to welcome back to the podcast. You may know him as Dr. Jermaine Johnson, state rep for South Carolina, my wingman when I was running for president in the state. We reunited again when Dean Phillips was down there making his case and he might be throwing his hat in the ring to be the next governor of South Carolina. Welcome back, Jermaine.

Oh man, I appreciate you having me back, man. I still feel good about being your.

Wingman too, you know, I mean, I really looked like your wingman because here's the experience, which was one of my favorite things. So check it out. I'm campaigning in South Carolina and everyone looks and says, who is this ginormous, smiling, handsome, looks like a former pro athlete because he was a former pro athlete, you know, going six foot six and then who is the normal sized Asian man next to him? You were like a beacon, a Human beacon. And you drew attention wherever we went because you're so tall and, you know, statuesque, you know, since then, you've been one of the major successes of the Yang gang in that you then ran for state office against an incumbent who'd been there how many years?

22 years, man.

Yeah, 22 years. And everyone said, there's no way you can do that. You shouldn't challenge, you shouldn't run. And then you ran and won, and then what's the next time, Next thing the establishment told you you shouldn't do?

Well, they told me a whole bunch of things, and they even told me that I was crazy about considering a run for governor of South Carolina, man. And, you know, it's. It's always the individuals who've been there for 20, 30, 40 years who don't want young people to step up, don't want young people to challenge the status quo, don't want people like myself who are vocal individuals to really, I guess, rock the boat. But I. You know, I've never been that way. I even got in trouble a couple times on your campaign.

Yeah, no, it's true. It's like, what are you doing hanging out with that guy? Everyone at that time was taking money from Tom Steyer, I think, or Bloomberg. Like, they were putting money to work. And Jermaine was like, you know what? I like the guy who's trying to give everyone money.

Yeah, well, you know, when I tell that story, I tell that story a lot, all the time still. And people. I said, can y' all imagine what it was like in 2018, 2019 for me as a black man in South Carolina with all these black candidates running for president, and I choose the Asian man who's running for. Who running for president. I said, well, you know, just imagine all the. All the pushback that I got for that.

Yeah. Hopefully it. It aged well because everyone's like, oh, yeah, that guy was on to. To. To some. Some things. So let's give people your origin story, though. You have been on the podcast before, so some people might remember it. You grew up all over the place, and then you went to the College of Charleston, where you were a star basketball player, and then you played overseas for a number of years before returning to South Carolina. Somehow you got a doctorate. Somehow you have a beautiful wife and kids, who, at this point, your kids are probably more athletic than I am.

They're definitely playing. They're never playing sports now, but, yeah.

Give people a sense of your journey and how you came to run for state office and why you got behind me and got involved in politics in the first place.

Yeah, I appreciate that opportunity because I don't have the traditional upbringing or traditional background of a elected official. I was originally born in California, and my very first memory of my life was my brother was running away from home. And when he ran away from home, his best friend that was supposed to be a safe space, actually shot him and killed him. So. Yeah, so. So my life started off with a tumultuous beginning. And, you know, growing up, I. I went to seven different high schools. At around the age of 13, 14, I want to go live in a motel. I lived in a Motel 6. I lived in a lot of different motels, but I was still able to play basketball fairly well. So I had an AAU coach that said, listen, Jermaine, we got to get you out of this environment. And he ended up sending me up to a prep school in. In upstate New York. And that's where I saw snow for the first time. That's where I saw stars for the first time. That's where I saw people wearing coats and ties and things for the first time. And I was like, man, this is. This is different than what I'm used to, you know? And that's where I really got a sense of that. My environment wasn't really the normal environment or my environment could be. It could be improved upon. I ended up getting a scholarship to go play basketball at the College of Charleston. I played. I was the very first Rookie of the Year in College Charleston history. I scored the very first points in the. The TD arena that's down there. I'm like. I'm like top 10 all time and, like, points scored and number three or four all time and rebounds, you know, top top 10 and black shots, you know, a whole bunch of things. So I ended up getting drafted to the NBA D League. And then I went. After I left the NBA D League, I went and played professional in Mexico, Canada, Portugal, and Brazil. And after I retired in 2015, because I ended up getting my older brother. He was in prison for a long time, and he came home. He was a fantastic basketball player. And I got him a tryout with the team that I was playing on in Mexico. And when he flew out there, he made the team. When he tried out, he got married, had some kids in Mexico. And then in 2015, I had just lost a game. So I was sitting outside of my apartment, and I was. I was thinking about, you know, what I could have did better in the game. And I got A call from a mutual friend of ours, and he said, hey, Jermaine, what's going on? I said, man, I'm just sitting outside thinking about, you know, how we lost his game. And he said, I don't know how to tell you this, man, but your brother died. I said. I said, stop playing with me, man. Like, you know, don't play with me like that. He said, no. He said, your brother died last night, along with four other your friends. It was five people total, died in a car accident. And that's the year when I retired from playing basketball. I said I needed to come home and be with my wife, be with my children, because during that time, while I was playing basketball, I was still studying to get my master degree. And then I finished up getting my doctor degree right after I had retired from playing basketball. And I came home and I got involved with things, and it was like I was going to therapy, and I was trying to figure out what I could do to help other people. And it was like the light bulb went off in my head because I went to go meet with my pastor. And he was like, jermaine, you can do anything you want to do. And once that happened, when that light bulb went off, I said, man, I'm gonna start a nonprofit to help people that had been through similar situations like I had been through and my family had been through, to help them navigate, you know, everything going around. And that's what kind of got me involved with everything. And then I helped a young person to get a job. And when this young person got a job at a place called Midlands Fatherhood Coalition, he came to work one day, and he had said he had been stopped three times, three days by the police. They searched him and let him go. They didn't give him a ticket, a warning or anything. And I asked him if he reported that. He said, no. He said, that's just type of things that happens in our community. And I said, that's not right. So there was a community event going on with police officers about bridging the gap. And the police in our community were talking about how they did such a fantastic job at community policing and everything. And I'm like, it's burning my spirit because I'm like, man, I just talked to this young guy who said that y' all legally searched him. So I stood up at the podium, and I'm in my 20s at this point, and I stood up at the podium and I say. I said, y' all say y' all don't have these problems in this community, they're like, no, we don't do this. You don't have this problem. I said, well, you're lying to me, because I just talked to the young person who said what y' all did to him and how y' all searched him and let him go, and that why he didn't report y' all. And after I went on to chastise the police, I actually got a standing evasion from the people in the room. And I'm like, oh, my God. So I'm leaving this event, and I get a tap on my shoulder, and this gentleman says, jermaine, you're exactly what we need. Like, you are the future. These young people look up to you. You know, you can lead these young people. And that was State Representative Joe Neal. And that was the very first politician I had met. State Representative Joe Neal was very instrumental in having the Confederate flag taken down from the State House dome. And he became my mentor at that point. He discovered me in terms of politics, and that's how I ended up getting involved with everything. And then I was looking for people this. When the presidential campaign was about to start up, I was looking for people to support, and I. I was. I found this guy by the name of Cory Booker. And I was like, man, I was like, this guy Cory Booker is pretty darn cool. I like this guy. I even have a picture with him. I have a picture with him back then. And I was like, this guy, Cory Booker is real. He's real good. He made me feel good. He made me feel like a real good person. He was a black guy, and I was looking at him. I said, man, like, this is cool. But then I started really, really honing in, and this one Donald Trump was around. And I thought about how Donald Trump's people feel. They. He was. He was getting people to support him based off of emotions. And I said, man, well, I'm. I'm supporting Cory Booker based off my emotions about how I feel. And I said, well, let me get back in the. Let me get back out here and really look at who's really talking about solutions. And then I was reading in a magazine about some Asian man that wanted to give everybody a thousand dollars a month. And I was like, well, that's interesting. So I started searching and searching and searching, and then that's how I ended up saying, man, this guy is really talking about some good stuff. And then I went to a Walmart in my community, and I saw a robot riding around a Walmart in my community, in this rural community. And I said, yo. I said, I'm sold. I said, I'm sold. And that's when I started telling everybody about Andrew Yang. I started telling all the people, the young Democrats, about Andrew Yang. And then I got a phone call with somebody saying that Andrew Yang's campaign is looking for people to. Who are going to support him. And I said, man, my wife was pregnant this time. I don't know if you even know that my wife was pregnant. And we were at that. We were at a hospital appointment, and I was running around the parking lot talking about Andrew Yang's campaign. Once top me, I was. I was so excited, man. And that's how I got involved with you, you know, and then when you came down here, that's how I set up your weekend and everything. So that ended up getting me here.

Well, we. We had a wonderful time together. You were a joy to campaign with. Genuinely, I mean, multiple level. I'm pumped that after the campaign ended, you just turned around and decided to run for office. You unseated an incumbent who'd been there for a long time, and then you arrive in the state capitol. How was your experience showing up there as kind of the new kid on the block?

Well, I'm gonna tell you, the Yang gang made it actually possible for me to even be here. When I announced that I was gonna run against this 20 incumbent, obviously, you know, the establishment came out against me. You know, all the longtime senators were doing radio ads against me. I mean, the school board members, the sheriff, I mean, everybody was doing all these different ads against me because obviously I was a young guy. The guy I. I beat was literally 50 years older than me. You know, he had been there forever. And me being, you know, this young guy, they were like, man, this guy has no shot. You know, he's young, he's black, he's too inexperienced, doesn't have the connections. So when I. When the Yank gang kind of powered me with financial support, you know, I got. I got donations from all 50 states because of the Yang Gang. All 50 states donated. So I was the only candidate in South Carolina that got donated from all 50 states. And because of that, I came in not like a regular. I came in like LeBron almost, man. It was like. It was like. It was. It was not normal, man. It wasn't normal when I came in there. So I was like star power from the day I got in there. And I was on a newspaper and media all the time from there. Foreign.

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I'm six seven today. I'm 270. Yeah, well, actually I'm 268 now. You know, you know, you never know which durang you're gonna get. You know, I lose weight, gain weight. So this time I'm 6, 7, 268 pounds.

Yeah, you just have this massive aura around you and this magnetism and people, you come in a room and everyone's like, who's that? And because you're smiling and positive, then everyone's like, oh, I need to know that guy. I need to listen to him. And so you're showing up in the state House. It seems like you've created some unusual friendships and relationships too, that people who might not have thought that they would gravitate towards you have found them, you know, found themselves working with you on various things.

And since I've announced this exploratory committee to consider running for governor, you will see, like you would expect that a Democrat, especially in South Carolina, will receive all this hate mail or hate emails or hate posts, things like that. But for me, it's been on the, on the opposite. For when I announced this, I've received positive feedback from Republicans, positive feedback from Democrats, from independents, from Green Party folk, all of them saying that they want to help me with the campaign, they want to help raise some money, they want to be a part of the campaign. And it's been a broad spectrum, very, very similar to, like, when you were running and how we had the events, and when you asked who was Republican, who was Democrat, who was great part, and all that. And, you know, you have pockets of people raising their hands. My support system has been the same. You know, I've had pockets of people raising their hand from. From all different sides of the political spectrum. And that's because, you know, I went into the State House saying, well, why in the heck do I want to spend all my time hanging out with Democrats? I said, because if I'm hanging out with Democrats, we're just gonna be a bunch of bobbleheads, and everybody saying, yes, yes, yes. And I said, I want to spend some time hanging out with people who are saying no. So I can figure out, why are you saying no, and can we come to some sort of consensus as to why you're saying no so we can have an agreement as to where we can both say, all right, well, I can kind of live with that, you know, And I think that's what's best for America. That's what's best for South Carolina to really bring people together. And so I spent a lot of time with the Republicans. I mean, I spent a lot of time going to the houses, hanging out with the kids, doing things that they like to do, going to their events. I've got some Republican groups in my district. I go speak at those Republican groups where I'm literally only black guy in there is a bunch of old white Republican men, and I'm the only black guy in there. And I'm hanging out and spending time with them because I truly do want to get to know other individuals. But I also want to break down those barriers. I want to break down the people being afraid of a big black guy. You know, I want. I want to break down those barriers and say, hey, listen, we're not different at all. You know, and our priorities need to be lined up correctly so that we can truly all benefit together.

So, Jermaine, you've been a state rep now for a couple of years. Is there anything that you are particularly proud of that you've helped accomplish?

I'm going to tell you, you know, the one thing that has happened recently that I'm extremely proud of is I, as the Democrat, worked alongside of a Republican by the name of Brandon Cox. And we went together to get past and sign into law the first monument dedicated to a single African American that will be placed on the State House grounds coming up in the next year or so. It's the only monument. It is of Robert Smalls. And if everybody knows who Robert Smalls is, I encourage you to look Robert Smalls up. Robert Smalls was a slave out of Beaufort, South Carolina, and he actually stole. He commandeered a Confederate ship, sailed out of the harbor, got his family on the ship, learned all their. All the sign language of the. Of the Confederates to get out of the harbor. Then he had the audacity to come back and got some more people left again. Then he ran for state House, he won. Then he ran for Senate, he won. Then he ran for Congress, he won. And he actually, he actually helped start the Republican party party of South Carolina. He actually helped to start the public education system in South Carolina. And this is a black guy who did all of this. And then to show his true character, what he did was he. After he was, you know, this amazing man, he bought the house that he was enslaved in. And then the, the, his. His enslavers, the, the. The wife, he actually took care of her until the day that she died. These are, are his literal people who used to own him. But because of the lady, she had dementia. She couldn't remember anything about where to go or anything else. All she knew was the house that she was in. So he decided to show his love, his compassion, and take care of this woman until the day that she died. That shows the character of who Robert Smalls was a very deserving individual to have a monument put on our statehouse grounds. And it will probably be the last monument we will ever have installed on the State House grounds. And I worked alongside of a Republican to make sure that that happened.

Wow, what a. What an incredible testament to. To his legacy. You know, when I was in South Carolina, I went to one of the places where the slaves were off, boarded after they got off the ships, one of these structures, and wow, you could feel like a particular energy of the place. And not in a good way necessarily. Like, you just felt like there was like this incredible level of human suffering and subjugation, like at that physical location, because you can imagine how many slaves were transported and then offloaded and then, you know, it really hit you hard. You know, when I was in South Carolina, too, I went to a museum and there were books on various. We brought our kids when we were in South Carolina. We brought the family to a museum, and there was honestly, like, a very, very messed up book about slavery in this museum where we're just like, whoa, whoa. That, like, that exhibit, like, probably needs a little bit of fine tuning, a.

Little bit of modification.

I mean, I'm not someone who's terribly sensitive about a lot of things, but even I was like, yo, that's not cool. Yeah, you might know what I'm talking about. So, like, so my boys were looking at various things. I was like, yeah, yeah, don't look at that one.

Yeah. I tell you, part of the place where you were at was also where Harry Tubman was at as well. So there's lots of history in this area. We have the new International African American Museum down in Charleston. It's second only to the one in Washington, D.C. and just a bit of historical context for myself. If I do run for governor and I am the Democratic nominee, I would only be the second African American nominee in the history of South Carolina. Only the second. So there was one other guy, it was in 1990 by the name of Theo Mitchell. He's now 86 years old, living in the upstate of South Carolina. And I would only literally be the second. In 2025, I'd only be the second African American. So it's an interesting. It's an interesting dynamic we have down here. But I tell people right now, I'm not looking to make history. I'm not looking, you know, to be the first black governor or any of that type of stuff. I'm looking to make people's lives better. And I just so happen to be a black guy who's trying to make the lives better of everybody.

No, I saw your courage and independence yet again up close in early 2024, when a guy named Dean Phillips came to the state. And to say that people gave him the cold shoulder would be an understatement, because you had glowering James Clyburn, Jim Clyburn there being like, hey, no one spent any time with this guy because he's challenging our President Joe Biden and South Carolina and Joe Biden are like this. And Jim Clyburn and Joe Biden are, you know, hip to hip. And you were just about the only elected who was willing to appear with Dean Phillips and say, hey, this guy is. This guy's a sitting member of Congress. He's vice chair of the dnc. Like, he deserves his say. And I can't imagine, because, you know, like, there are all these people around you. I can't imagine the kind of Pressure you must have withstood to stand with me and Dean in the state.

Yeah, you know, I got a lot of media was asking me, hey, you're probably the only Democrat who hasn't come out to fully endorse Joe Biden for reelection. I said, well, I'm not going to come out. Well, I'm not. I said, I truly believe in democracy. I truly believe that everybody should have their fair share or their fair say. And if there's a sitting member of Congress, we have to show respect, respect for the office, respect for the work that has been done for the people. I mean, I felt like as a member, and I'm going to just talk about being a member of the Democratic Party for a second. As a member of the Democratic Party, we have another member of the Democratic Party wanting to make America better for us, and we're going to treat that man with so much disrespect like that. I said, that was insane to me because, you know, this is somebody who's been voting with us, who's been voting for us, who's been standing with us and fighting for us, and we got the audacity to disrespect this man like this. I said, that is insane to me. So I, I, I said I would not participate in that, in that sort of rhetoric and that sort of treatment of a sitting member of Congress. And that's why I said, listen, come on, the church week, man, you know, let, come on, come on, hang out. You know, I'll introduce you some people you could talk to, you know, some people, you know, and make your case. Because I truly believe that America is better when we have some sort of an open dialogue like that. When we start closing people off, then what we're going to do is push people out of our party. We're going to push people out of the, you know, out of the center. We're going to push people to the other side because they feel alienated. And I've had that situation here in South Carolina where people have tried to get me to run for different positions outside of the governor position. If I'm like, no, we have a, we have somebody who's already wanting to run for that seat. Why would I want to run? Overshadow this person? And then this person feels alienated, and then they say, you know what? The Democratic Party or these people didn't support me. So I'm going to go take, I'm going to go over here, and then all the people that supported that person are also going to leave with that person, you know, So I don't. I don't believe in alienate people. I believe in uplifting people and making them all feel welcome.

Well, you did a great job with Dean. I know he's indebted to you, as was I. And it was lovely going to church with you and your community and then having Dean meet with various folks and people would be like, hey, you know what? He seems kind of okay or sane or lucid or well intended, as opposed to, like, this, you know, narcissistic figure that, like, others, you know, were accusing him of being. So here you are, one of the stalwarts of your party in the state. You've gone from being the person that everyone's like, oh, too young to inexperience. Now they're turning around, asking you to do things.

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I mean, the state House and the state generally are Republican dominated, so the fact that you're reaching across the aisle makes perfect sense. A statewide race. I feel like the Democrats would look around and say, all right, who's going to run for governor? You've set up an exploratory committee, which I have donated to because love Jermaine and anything you want to do, like, I'm 100% supportive of. And I think you'd make a phenomenal governor. And I think anyone listening to this would just draw the same conclusion pretty quickly. It's like, oh, Jermaine's a real person. He is very positive. He just wants to get things done. You and I also coordinated on a ranked choice voting event in South Carolina. You're a democracy reform proponent. You're someone who realizes that if you have better choices and more open voting system, then people will get better candidates, better policy. I do feel like it's a very, very big decision for you to run for governor. Can you explain what the process has been in terms of, let's say, like, who's been trying to get you to run or not get you to run and what you're evaluating during this time because you're still in an exploratory phase officially.

Yeah. So it's been quite interesting, the people who have called me about considering a run for governor. Mainly it's been grassroots level individuals who have been reaching out saying, man, this man, you really need to consider this run for governor. And especially since that video of me went viral, that video of me speaking out against the diversity, equity, inclusion stuff. I mean, over 6 million people saw that video, man, and I got lots of calls from there.

Maybe you don't understand what this amendment does. Merit based and non merit based. I don't understand why. See, you don't like being called racist in here. You hate when we use the word racist. You hate being attacked. You hate when we bring up race and everything. But then when we have an opportunity to show that we're not racist, you let me down every time. Every time. And I sit here and we talk about our families, we talk about our kids, we go on trips together. And then we talk about not funding state, not using our state dollars to go to white supremacy programs. And then we table it. You want to talk about some stuff? Let's talk about how they just took almost $7 million from the college of Charleston because they want to help black kids. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about all the amendments that are in the state budget right now to defund all the black programs that are going across the state. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about ap, African American Studies that was banned from this state. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the attacks that you got going on, people who don't look like you. Talk about it. Why do we continuously do this to our kids?

Why?

What is it that you're doing? What are you showing your kids that public funds can go to white supremacy programs? We just had an issue at USC where all those kids felt scared. Matter of fact, we just had the Patriot Front on our steps last week. What are we doing here? Tell me what we're doing. Don't try to explain to me. Well, I thought it was this or. Nah, it was. It's that. Nah, Jermaine, we want to see equality. We give you an opportunity every single time. And here we go again. I was in the back, I was ready to go just like y' all are, but here we go. Every single time you get an opportunity to show us something different. You show us who you are.

You know, the people have been really reaching out to me. Grassroots Individuals have been saying, you know, Jermaine, you really should consider this. This really is a time for you. Like, this is your opportunity to really make a splash out there and really a lot bring people together to really help people out. But I had, way back in 2016, I was like, man, I said, I'm going to be trying to work toward this goal here because South Carolina deserves better. And as I've been out here really talking to people and everything, I've gotten more encouragement saying, jermaine, you just need to go ahead and launch fully on out and go ahead and say that you're running for governor. And when I announced that this exploratory committee was forming, I honestly did not expect to get the support and the rousing applause that I did. But when I came out there, when they called my name up to come speak, I got a standing ovation for like three minutes, three, four minutes. I mean, people were like, just, they were chanting my name. I mean, it was. It was crazy, man. I was like, oh, my God. I had to stand back and just take it all in. Like, this is amazing. Yeah. So it was, you know, it was just one of those things where I did not expect it to be what it was, but it was. I was received so well. And ever since then, it's almost like, it's almost like I didn't say exploratory committee or considering people like, nope, that's the guy. You're. You're run for golden. Like, you're the guy. Remove the considerate, remove the exploratory. You are the guy for governor. And, you know, I had gotten a call from the, from the chair, Crystal Spain. I got, you know, calls from all different types of members, but I've always made it. I've made it known over and over again. I said, if I am the person to run for governor, South Carolina, I am not married to the national Democratic Party. I am not married to the national Democratic narrative. I am not. I'm a different type of Democrat. And I am not going to be the typical Democrat to have a typical Democratic campaign. I'm not going to talk about the typical Democrat issues. I'm not going to talk about the typical stuff. I'm going to talk about things that are people centered and for the people of America and the people of South Carolina. What are the things that are most important to them? Things like, why do we have so many damn potholes in our roads? Why is our infrastructure crumbling? Why is our public education system always last on the list? Well, I think we're number 42 out of all the states. Why are we dealing with these certain things? Why are our voting rights still being trampled on? Why are things like men trying to give women the death penalty for having an abortion? You know, stuff like that? I want to help address those issues and not talk about the social issues of which bathroom somebody wants to use and talk about the social issues of CRT and, and dei. I want to talk about things that affect you every single day in your everyday life. And I mean, it's been, it's been good so, so far.

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So first, it sounds like the Democratic field is parting for you and that there aren't other Democrats like oh, I want to take on that race. Is, is there a Republican incumbent?

So you know Henry McMaster right now is the longest serving governor in South Carolina history. You remember when Nikki Haley went to go be with Donald Trump, he filled her, he replaced her for those, her final two years and then he ran for his two consecutive terms and then he's been the Republican. So we're going to have a new governor no matter what happens because he's term limited out. So you've got, you've got like four or five people who are considering a run for governor. On the Republican side you have Alan Wilson who's the, the current attorney general. You have Nancy Mace who's a congresswoman, you have Ralph Norman who's also a congressman. And then you've got some other state senators, Republican state senators that are considering a run as well. So the Republican side is going to be a very, very crowded field for out there. But as far as the Democratic side right now, I'm like the only candidate that they're like, we're, we're with. And you know, I don't know if anybody else is considering or was going to jump in, but it almost seemed like as soon as I announced my exploratory committee that everybody was just Kind of lined up behind me and said, listen, we are going to push this guy. And a lot of Republicans on the Republican side, you know, in the Senate and in the House, they've made public statements about me. They said, not. Jermaine is. Jermaine is probably the best Democratic candidate we've seen, you know, in recent memory. He is the one that, you know, he's really the one. If anybody has a shot to win it, he's the guy that has a shot to win. And they're saying that, you know, they're usually when Republicans are throwing, you know, are throwing rocks at people on the Democratic side, these people are saying, no, Jermaine is fair. He's family first. You know, he is. He's that type of individual. And, you know, if he is elected that he'd. He'd be a good guy to govern for all of us. So, I mean, what I'm receiving versus what the Republicans are receiving is night and day, and I actually, you know, I receive it all.

Yeah, it sounds like you're gonna have very, very good opportunity to make your case while the other side is gonna. Through next spring. So at this point, if someone listening to this is like, ooh, I would like to see Germaine transition from exploratory committee to declared candidate, how can they best help? How can they keep up with you? If they'd like to make a contribution to your committee, which eventually I believe will become a campaign, how can they best do so?

Well, if they just go to my website, Johnson for SC J O H N S O N F O R S C dot com. You can just click on that big old red donate button or, or. And fill out the. The form to be. To be, like, notified of, like, updates and volunteers type stuff. Because obviously we're going to need people to make phone calls. We're going to need all those different types of things. But really, it's not about a time frame for when I announce or if I announce. It's really about if we have a dollar amount, because if we meet a certain dollar amount to go ahead and announce a candidacy for governor, that's what it is. That's what it's all about. Because if you get the financial backing, then you can run a good race. You can be a viable candidate, but without the financial backing from the people, you really can't run a viable race. And you can't get your message out. You can't get this message of unity that I'm trying to put out there. I can't get it spread across South Carolina. So if you're watching, please, you know, no, no amount is, is too small and right now, no amount is too large. You can donate as much as you want or as little as you want. It's all spendable and we want to be able to, to bring the people on to go ahead and spread this message. We have a goal of raising about a half a million before we announce. So if, you know, 500,000 of y' all want to go ahead and donate a dollar, we will grab, we will gladly take it so that we can go ahead and start moving this state forward.

It would give me a lot of joy if you again got a donation from all 50 states. I've donated. It's good for the soul. It feels great. You're exactly the kind of positive, unifying leader that people want, not just in South Carolina, but nationwide. And I'm pumped for this upcoming campaign. My friend Johnson, for SC.com, please do support our friend, Dr. Jermaine Johnson. And such a credit to the movement. Jermaine, I feel a lot of personal pride that you graduated from my wingman to next governor of South Carolina, perhaps. And I'm very, very happy to be your wingman. And in that case, people again will notice you first and then be like, who's the average sized, like the normal sized Asian man? And then hopefully they'll recognize me and I can do some good because I, I would enjoy campaigning for you.

Well, just know that when we do win, you're going to be a part of my inauguration. You will be a part of the, the swearing in ceremony, just like you were for when I got sworn in for the State House. Man, you are a big part of myself and my family. We love you dearly. You know, you and the wife and the kids, man, we love you all. You all are family to us. And you know, I always got your back, man.

No, right back at you, man. And again, watching you stand next to Dean Phillips when no one else would, I was like, holy crap. Like, you know, Jermaine is like the definition of character and leadership. And I dare say that history made your stance look better and better.

Unfortunately, I think I still get people in the State House now. They're like, jermaine, you probably made the best decision out of all of us. I'm like, yeah, I know.

Johnson for sc. We'll see you soon, Jermaine. And pumped for this next stage.

Appreciate you, my brother. Always appreciate you.