Ravenel was the favorite to win the general election until the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled his candidacy invalid on the grounds that he did not meet the state's residency requirements.
He worked for on Wall Street for the firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and served as a White House Fellow under President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1967, he co-founded the New York Academy for Black and Latin Education (ABLE) with his friend Michael Bloomberg.
[2] He won a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary and looked like a formidable general election candidate.
Ravenel was replaced as the Democratic nominee by the runner-up in the primary, Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn.