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The main event in South Carolina politics over the next eighteen months will be the battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination – with the winner practically guaranteed to secure the top executive post in the Palmetto State’s legislatively dominated government.
Why is the GOP primary so important?
To set the stage for our audience, South Carolina is totally controlled by the GOP – nominally, at least. Republicans – or politicians who identify as such – control both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, six of seven congressional districts and every elected statewide constitutional office. They also enjoy supermajorities in both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly, which is where the real power lies.
Do these Republican politicians govern in a manner consistent with the limited government principles upon which their party was founded? And upon which they campaign each election cycle? No… not even remotely. In fact, in addition to their results-challenged profligacy and corrupt crony capitalism, ruling Republicans have spent millions of dollars in recent elections trying to eliminate the handful of GOP politicians who do adhere to those principles.
Despite the pervasive economic lethargy accompanying the GOP’s chronic hypocrisy, this disconnect hasn’t caught up with its politicians at the polls. If anything, “Republican” margins are expanding. Why? Because woke Democrats have wildly embraced the national party’s failed far left agenda – rendering themselves completely irrelevant at the statewide level.
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No Democrat has won a top-of-the-ticket statewide election in the Palmetto State this millennium. The last to do it? The late Fritz Hollings, who beat centrist GOP congressman Bob Inglis in 1998 to win his final term in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, no Democrat has won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006 – when Jim Rex defeated Karen Floyd in the race for state superintendent of education by a mere 455 votes.
Rex later bolted the Democratic party, incidentally.
The last Democratic gubernatorial candidate – former congressman Joe Cunningham – drew a meager 40.7% of the vote. The last Democratic U.S. Senate candidate – former state representative Krystle Matthews – drew just 37%. Last month, vice president Kamala Harris put up an embarrassing 40.3% in South Carolina – Democrats’ worst showing in a presidential election in the Palmetto State since 1992.
In other words, pay no attention to the Democratic candidates for governor… because this race will be decided in the GOP primary. And perhaps no one will have more impact over who wins that primary than former/future president Donald Trump, who pulled beleaguered incumbent Henry McMaster across the finish line in 2018 against Upstate businessman John Warren.
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RELATED | SC JOBS REPORT
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As the 2026 field assembles, Trump’s endorsement is coveted by all contenders – especially the two frontrunners in the race, attorney general Alan Wilson and first district congresswoman Nancy Mace. Both Wilson and Mace are firmly in the MAGA camp headed into this battle – and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Trump lend his imprimatur to one or the other.
Assuming Trump’s endorsement isn’t already spoken for…
Sources close to the race told FITSNews lieutenant governor Pamela Evette – another loyal MAGAphile – could have the inside track when it comes to receiving Trump’s backing in the 2026 election. Or at least Evette has reportedly been led to think she has the inside track…
“She believes it’s in the bag,” one source close to the lieutenant governor told this media outlet, referring to Trump’s endorsement.
What happened to make Evette think that? It’s not immediately clear… but some have suggested McMaster could be pushing Trump behind the scenes to elevate his second-in-command. If accurate, that could have a significant impact on the race. Despite being one of America’s least conservative state-level executives, the status quo governor continues to have Trump’s ear – and continues to get most of what he wants when he goes favor-seeking in Mar-a-Lago.
“It’s a legacy play,” a source familiar with the governor’s thinking told FITSNews. “She would be his third (full) term.”
McMaster also isn’t known to be especially close with Wilson – who followed him into the attorney general’s office in 2011 – or Mace.
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On Christmas Day and the first day of Hanukkah, our family sends a special message of gratitude to our servicemen and women, our law enforcement, and all who are away from their family today in service to others. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! ??? pic.twitter.com/NV2u1oJvqY
— Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (@PamelaEvette) December 25, 2024
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Evette, 57 – a native of Ohio (and granddaughter of Polish immigrants) – was elected on a ticket with McMaster in November 2018. She became the Palmetto State’s 93rd lieutenant governor the following January. As noted above, the duo was reelected by a landslide in 2022 – but McMaster (who previously served half of former governor Nikki Haley‘s second term) is constitutionally limited from running in 2026.
Prior to her entry into politics, Evette was chief executive officer of Quality Business Solutions – a payroll, human resources and benefits firm headquartered in her adopted home of Travelers Rest, S.C. Her official bio touts her as having “demonstrated a deep understanding of the regulatory issues and challenges facing small and medium sized businesses” in the Palmetto State, and of being a “staunch promoter of innovative public-private partnerships.”
Despite holding statewide office for the past six years, though, Evette’s public profile remains relatively low… especially when compared to frontrunners Mace and Wilson.
As of this publication, there are no announced candidates for the GOP gubernatorial primary – which will be held in June of 2026. The field is expected to be full, however. In addition to Mace, Wilson, Evette and Warren, former S.C. governor Mark Sanford is considering seeking the office he previously held from 2003-2011, while state senators Josh Kimbrell and Sean Bennett are also mulling bids.
Other contenders could also throw their names into the hat…
Count on FITSNews to keep our audience in the loop on all the major developments in this race as the field begins to coalesce and contenders begin to jockey for position.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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4 comments
Do you really think anyone gives a crap who the Governor of South Carolina is? As SC slips further and further down the MAGA shit hole, our people will be poorer and poorer, less and less educated and our health will decline further and further. It’s what Republicans have always wanted. Dumb, poor workers who are desperate for a job, with no options but to work for less and less, with no union representation and the ability of companies to replace them with less expensive foreign workers by simply saying they can’t find a suitable US Worker.
I guess Vivek and Elon might call this big business nirvana.
You just described the democrat plantation.
Except the democrat plantation has union “representation” for the workers. The union leaders are in on the scheme with the politicians and get fat off the workers’ dues.
u mean