Kara Gormley Meador, a former anchor at WIS in Columbia, has announced plans to run for the South Carolina state senate seat held by Republican Jake Knotts.

Meador, who left the NBC-affiliated WIS in 2010 after almost 15 years with the station, said her experience reporting on Knotts influenced her decision to run.

“Some of the stories that I covered had to do with some questionable decisions made by Senator Knotts, and I uncovered a lot of different things through investigations,” she told The State. “When people came to me with this decision to run, it just happened to be I lived in the same district.”

Meador faces a June primary against Knotts and another Republican candidate, Katrina Shealy.

>Update: Officials in Lexington County say Meador is likely ineligible to run due to a recent redrawing of State Senate districts, The State reports.