Clements worked as the campaign manager for Democratic Congressman Doug Barnard, Jr. in the 1980s and as well as a long environmental activist with Greenpeace and the Nuclear Control Institute.
Clements worked as a policy analyst in the United States Forest Service and as an inspector in the Office of Surface Mining for the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Clements campaigned around the state from June through November 1, appearing at NAACP forums, stump meetings, editorial conferences and other public events.
The campaign financed TV and radio advertisements to run in the Columbia, Charleston and Pee Dee regions during the two weeks prior to the election.
A Winthrop University poll conducted between October 5 and 10 with 741 likely South Carolina voters found Clements running second with 12.2% of the vote against 11.2% for Democrat Alvin Greene and 58.3% for incumbent Jim DeMint.
He opposes offshore drilling, with his website calling it "a potentially disastrous gamble that could destroy South Carolina’s coastline, along with her fishing and tourism industries".
[11][12] On September 9, The Nation's John Nichols suggested that Democrats embrace Clements as the most progressive choice and best option in the South Carolina Senate election over Greene and DeMint.
[16] In a first for a minor party candidate in South Carolina, Clements was endorsed for Senate by a daily paper, the Rock Hill Herald.