Did Thomas & Kathryn's Antics Hurt Hit Campaign?

Thomas Ravenel, in a sea of cocksure Bravo reality TV stars, just might be the most presumptuous; because Nene Leakes may think she invented acting, money, and Atlanta, but even she isn't running for office after showing so many of her true (possibly scripted) colors on national television. But as we all know after after last week's episode of Southern Charm , Thomas Ravenel ran for U.S. Senate throughout the filming of the show's second season. As we all also probably know — government spoilers ahead — Thomas lost the Senate race. He didn't come close. Not even a little bit. The announcement came at a time in the episode when Thomas and the woman he didn't marry, Kathryn, were busy topping off their laundry lists of things they don't like about one another ("can't cook" and "philandering lowlife," respectively). Should two people like that get married? Not right now seems like a pretty reasonable answer, but that doesn't seem to stop the drama from coming down the line this season. But with all these factors flying around, I can't help but wonder if the baby mama drama while running for Senate hurt Thomas' campaign?

Well, probably, but not nearly as much as most every single other thing about him did. Everyone on Southern Charm loves teasing Thomas about his chequered political past and, uh, his dabbling in unlawfulness, but they only did it because Thomas wasn't in politics anymore. You really don't want to be able to say, "He has the craziest prison stories" about your future senator. Thomas ran for U.S. Senate once before, when he had a relatively clean record in 2004, and lost, so it was pretty ballsy of him to put himself on the ballot one more time now that he's on the same payroll as the folks from Vanderpump Rules and has a federally documented "record." He had to have known that his marital status with Kathryn would be the least of his worries going into his Senate campaign. Here's why...

Federal Drug Charges

The leading reason for any average South Carolina voter who doesn't watch Southern Charm might not be so keen on electing him as their senator would probably be because he was indicted on cocaine distribution charges while serving as State Treasurer in 2007. It's just pretty hard to come back from being sentenced to 10 months in prison, no matter your political ideals or ambitions.

Jokey TV Ads

But even if you can get past the former legal troubles, Thomas is still a reality TV star. Sure, just about everyone is these days, but you know who usually isn't? Senators. Starting late in the game, Thomas ran hard and was quite prolific in his campaigning, but he was also going up against a pretty unconquerable reputation. And his jokey TV ads didn't help. The wait-for-the-punchline spot above isn't as bad as the rumored ad featuring Thomas and co-star Whitney scoping out women that was taken down, but it probably didn't win over any voters who were questioning Thomas' seriousness.

Assault Accusations

By the time October 2014 rolled around, Thomas' November ballot was likely already lost, but the assault allegations brought against him at that time probably didn't help. According to a police incident report filed by Kathryn's stylist Lauren Moser in October, Thomas stormed in on the two women while holding the couple's baby one night while Moser was over, fell into the pool with the baby, struck Moser so hard with a door that she fell down three steps, and screamed at her to get out of their house while naked.

That accusation led to multiple rambling Facebook posts on Thomas' page in which he declared that he and Kathryn were no longer together; they were deleted soon after. Impulse control is something people often look for (or just don't even consider) in their senators, and Thomas just wasn't the right man for the job, whether Kathryn was his wife or not.

Images: Brianna Stello/Bravo; giphy