South Carolina Governor’s Race: Thomas Ravenel Is ‘In’

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Confirming our previous reporting, former South Carolina state treasurer and reality television star Thomas Ravenel is running for governor of the Palmetto State in 2026.

“I’m running for governor of South Carolina and none of the lightweights currently in the race are going to stop me,” Ravenel wrote on X late Thursday evening (February 6, 2025). ” I have a message that’s going to change not just South Carolina but the entire country.”

Ravenel, 62, of Charleston, S.C., is actually the first announced candidate for the office – although frontrunners Nancy Mace (a third-term Lowcountry congresswoman) and Alan Wilson (South Carolina’s fourth-term attorney general) have both made it clear they are planning to mount candidacies.

Former two-term governor Mark Sanford is also reportedly considering a run for the office he held from 2003-2011, as our numerous other potential contenders including state senators Sean Bennett and Josh Kimbrell.

***

Ravenel stoked speculation as to intentions last week when he claimed the Palmetto State has had “terrible leadership” from its chief executive officer in recent years.

 “We’re one of the least competitive states in the southeast based on our extremely high counterproductive income tax rates,” Ravenel noted. “Also, we tax cars and boats and boat motors and the costs to extract these taxes barely cover the revenue received. Poor leadership!!!”

Ravenel correctly asserted South Carolina’s tax code is antiquated and anti-competitive – and desperately in need of reform. He also backed school choice as a means of improving the quality of the Palmetto State’s government-run school system.

“Making our state competitive tax-wise would bring enormous prosperity to all South Carolinians, drastically reduce our poverty rate, substantially increase our wealth rate, and increase revenue,” he wrote. “Also, we need to make our schools much better through (the) competition choice brings. Competition always drives quality up.”

Those beliefs would certainly seem to be in line with the beliefs of most South Carolinians, but is Ravenel the candidate to advance them? And even if he was, can voters look beyond his checkered past?

You can read all about Ravenel’s latest political comeback bid by checking out this article I published earlier this week as his gubernatorial aspirations first began to take shape…

***

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.

***

WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.