The Accidental Candidate: The Rise and Fall of Alvin Greene

In 2010 a 32-year-old, socially awkward, unemployed African-American Army Veteran, who had been kicked out of the service and was living with his father in the South Carolina countryside while facing federal pornography charges, spent a significant portion of his life’s savings on the filing fee to run for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary to challenge incumbent tea party kingmaker Jim DeMint. Alvin Greene didn’t campaign, didn’t have a website and no one knew who he was.

Until he won.

Corey Hutchins, a reporter for the Columbia Free Times, is the South Carolina Press Association’s 2012 journalist of the year. David Axe is a freelance reporter based in Columbia, South Carolina, and the author of the graphic novel War is Boring. Blue Delliquanti is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Atlanta and the creator of the graphic novel O Human Star.