Democrat Noble chooses Tinubu as lieutenant governor

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Charleston businessman Phil Noble said his pick of an African-American educator to be his running mate for the Democratic nomination for governor shows he is the right person to lead a new South Carolina.

Noble, who is white, pointed out Thursday that he was announcing his selection of Gloria Bromell Tinubu on Confederate Memorial Day, which is a state holiday.

"This is about a triumph. This is about a new South Carolina. This is not about what we were, but what we can be," Noble said at a news conference outside the Statehouse.

Tinubu served on the Atlanta City Council and in the Georgia Legislature before moving to South Carolina in 2011. She ran for the U.S. House in 2012 and 2014 in the 7th District in northeast South Carolina, losing both times to U.S. Rep. Tom Rice.

Tinubu says she supports Noble's platform of equal pay for equal work and "equal opportunity for all and privileges for none."

"The people of this state are ready for, as Phil says, real change and real reform," Tinubu said.

Noble and Tinubu were also holding news conferences Thursday in Charleston and on Hilton Head Island.

Noble is in a three-way primary for the nomination in the June 12 primary

Florence lawyer Marguerite Willis has named state Sen. John Scott of Columbia as her running mate.

State Rep. James Smith plans to introduce his running mate at a rally in Lancaster on Friday.

This is the first election where candidates from governor are choosing their lieutenant governors instead of leaving it to voters as a separate elected office.