Thomas Ravenel Breaks Silence: Revealing Insights After a Startling Career Shift on 'Southern Charm' - lulu

Southern Charm alum Thomas Ravenel is jumping back on the political bandwagon as he’s announced his intention to run for office for a fourth time despite drug charges ending his last foray into politics.

The 62-year-old reality star made the surprise announcement on X on Thursday (February 6), stating he will be entering the race for Governor of South Carolina in 2026.

“I’m running for Governor of South Carolina and none of the lightweights currently in the race are going to stop me,” he wrote. “I have a message that’s going to change not just South Carolina but the entire country.”

Ravenel, who starred in five seasons of Bravo’s Southern Charm, has a long and complicated history with politics. According to People, in 2004, he ran in the Republican primary race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, though the Federal Election Commission later accused him of improperly filing reports for the failed bid, and he was made to pay a $19,500 fine.

He’d go on to serve as South Carolina’s treasurer in 2007 but was suspended after just five months on the job after a federal grand jury indicted him for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute less than 500 grams of cocaine. He resigned a month after his suspension.

After spending 30 days in a rehab facility and pleading guilty to the reduced charges of conspiring to buy and distribute less than 100 grams of cocaine, Ravenel was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.

He returned to the spotlight in 2014 when he appeared as a cast member on Southern Charm, which chronicles the personal and professional lives of several socialites living in Charleston, South Carolina. During this time, Ravenel once again ran for a U.S. Senate seat, this time as an independent, though he finished with just 3.9 percent of the vote.

Ravenel has faced a number of legal troubles in the years since, including accusations of assault by Lauren Moser, the hairdresser of Ravenel’s ex-girlfriend Kathryn Dennis. Ravenel, who shares two children with Dennis, was never charged for the incident.

In 2018, he once again got into trouble with the law after real estate agent Ashley Perkins, who met Ravenel on a dating app in 2015, accused him of sexually assaulting her mother. Ravenel denied the allegations but exited Southern Charm not long after.

He’d go on to plead guilty to one charge of assault and battery in the third degree in 2019. He was given a 30-day suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $500 fine. In addition, he agreed to pay $80,000 to the nonprofit organization People Against Rape.