He was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 2010 United States Senate election in South Carolina, and was defeated by incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, 61.48% to 27.65%.

Greene is notable for the suspicions among members of his own party regarding the legitimacy of his 2010 primary victory, for his "strange, well-documented behavior on the campaign trail," for the intense media attention he received, and for pursuing his 2010 Senate bid despite having been indicted.

His father, James Greene Sr., is a retired teacher from the Clemson Extension program, a barber, and a nightclub owner "who wanted blacks to play a bigger role in politics and entertainment.

The evaluations stated that Greene was an ineffective leader who was disorganized, made costly errors, and could not clearly express his thoughts.

[15] Some, including House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, speculated that Greene was a Republican plant and called for an investigation into the primary.

[21][7] Vic Rawl's campaign issued a press release that election forensics analyst Dr. Walter Mebane had "performed second-digit Benford's law tests on the precinct returns from the Senate race" and found improbable vote patterns.

[24] Former state Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian told NPR that this revelation raised doubts about whether Greene could have afforded the filing fee.

[25] In response to an official protest filed by Rawl, the executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party conducted a formal hearing on June 17, 2010, to assess the legitimacy of the primary election results.

[28][29][30][31] On June 27, 2010, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the 5th Circuit Solicitor's office announced that they were investigating Greene's finances.

In August 2010, South Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler asserted that the criminal charges against Greene would make it impossible for him to run a statewide campaign.

[38] Much attention was devoted to Greene's manner of speaking due to his habits of frequently interrupting himself, halting in mid-sentence, and saying "OK" between statements.

[1] At times, his jokes were not well understood by the media, such as when he told British newspaper The Guardian that one way to create jobs was to employ people to make toys in his likeness.

[41] In late July 2010, a hip hop-based viral video entitled "Alvin Greene is on the scene" became a hit on YouTube and other internet sites, garnering thousands of views an hour.

[46][47] The day after the primary election, the media reported that Greene was facing felony obscenity charges stemming from a November 2009 arrest for allegedly showing a pornographic picture on an Internet site to an 18-year-old female University of South Carolina student in a computer lab and allegedly saying, "Let's go to your room".

[52] The progressive watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Greene to their list of the 11 most crooked candidates vying for federal office in 2010.

[58] After he lost the 2010 Senate election, Greene reportedly asked the South Carolina Democratic Party how much the filing fee would be to run for President of the United States.

Greene advocated free universal health care, saying that the United States should model its system on Austria, Britain, or Canada.

"[63] In June 2010, the media reported that Greene was facing felony obscenity charges stemming from an incident that had occurred the previous fall at the University of South Carolina.

[64] According to student Camille McCoy, a man (later identified as Greene) told her to look at his computer screen; pornographic images were displayed on it.

[70] On June 6, 2011, Greene accepted the Richland County prosecutor's offer to enter a pretrial diversion program which would expunge his record of both charges after he completed a year-long[71] course of counseling and community service.