BIG MONEY HAUL …
Republican gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton got her 2018 candidacy off to a strong start this week.
The labor attorney – who ran the largest agency in state government for more than three years – reported raising a whopping $700,000 during the first quarter of 2017. Templeton’s haul contained no loans and was accompanied by virtually no expenses – leaving her with just over $690,000 cash on hand.
News of Templeton’s fundraising prowess was first reported by Meg Kinnard of the Associated Press.
Templeton’s impressive announcement came less than forty-eight hours after she confirmed her 2018 bid to reporter Schuyler Kropf of The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier.
There had been some speculation earlier this year that she may abandon her gubernatorial plans, but that speculation was clearly ill-founded.
Along with incumbent governor Henry McMaster and former lieutenant governor Yancey McGill, Templeton is one of three announced candidates for next spring’s GOP gubernatorial primary.
The 2018 race was supposed to be a “done deal” for McMaster – who received the advantage of incumbency on a silver platter from U.S. president Donald Trump. However, a lingering criminal investigation into corruption at the S.C. State House has drawn a bead on McMaster’s longtime political consultant, Richard Quinn, fundamentally changing the calculus of the race.
McMaster is expected to announce his first quarter fundraising totals within the next week. Given that he reportedly netted more than $700,000 at a single event last month, our guess is he clocks in somewhere in the $1.5 million to $2 million range.
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