K.J. Atwood is a South Carolina raised business leader, public servant, and father running for Congress to deliver practical, people-first results and bring a new generation of leadership to Washington.
He was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and spent part of his childhood in the South Carolina Lowcountry in a working class family that moved often. Those early years included real instability and hardship, and they shaped his belief in the power of community support, public institutions, and a fair chance for families trying to get ahead.
K.J. graduated from Wofford College with degrees in biology and economics, where he competed on the cross country and track teams and helped build campus and community initiatives. During college he became a devout Christian, an experience that led him to service work abroad in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and beyond. After graduation, he lived in Chile for nearly a year and became proficient in Spanish.
During the COVID 19 crisis, K.J. served South Carolinians through the state public health response, supporting relief efforts when the stakes were highest. Professionally, he worked at PwC as a tech consultant, leading teams of up to 40 people and helping deliver large scale systems supporting healthcare and other high impact services. He and his wife, Caitlyn, also founded Half Dreaming, a marketing and design agency that has supported purpose driven organizations from local nonprofits to national brands and helped clients raise and earn millions in support of their missions. Together, they also founded Healthy Belief, a nonprofit focused on helping people rebuild after living in coercive or high-control environments.
K.J. holds a Master of International Business from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Psychological Science from Rutgers Camden, with research focused on political behavior and polarization. He lives in Mt. Pleasant with Caitlyn and their daughter, and is running a modern, digitally focused campaign centered on lowering costs, protecting healthcare, restoring trust in government, and serving the state he loves and has lived in for the past 20 years.