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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson reported raising nearly $1.3 million in his bid to become the next governor of the Palmetto State, according to a release from his campaign. That number – which covered contributions from the third quarter of 2025 – underscored his “growing momentum” and the “overwhelming support” he is receiving, per his campaign’s release.
Wilson also boasted of having more than $1 million in the bank for his 2026 campaign. That means his organization is squirreling away most of the money it is taking in, assuming its formal filing matches with the numbers released to the media on Wednesday (October 8, 2025).
According to a memo from Wilson’s finance chairman, veteran SCGOP official Barry Wynn, Wilson’s third quarter haul represented “a huge milestone” and “proves South Carolina is ready to rally behind Alan Wilson to be the next governor.”
Wilson is one of four top tier contenders to succeed status quo governor Henry McMaster, who is term-limited after serving the final two years of Nikki Haley’s second term and winning election in his own right in 2018 and 2022.
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According to Wynn, Wilson’s haul included $260,000 in transfers from his attorney general account – which comprised roughly 22% of the quarterly total. That enabled Wilson to edge ahead of first district congresswoman Nancy Mace, who reported raising $1.1 million during her first two months as a candidate.
Mace reached her total in only eight weeks of fundraising, though.
Like Wilson, fifth district congressman Ralph Norman – who launched his candidacy in late July – reported raising $1.3 million during the third quarter for his campaign. Worth pointing out? A huge chunk of that total – $500,000 – came in the form of a loan from Norman, an independently wealthy real estate developer.
Norman reported having an estimated $1.1 million in his campaign bank account as of October 1, 2025.
Lieutenant governor Pamela Evette has yet to announce her third quarter campaign finance totals – but her campaign (and the political action committee support it) has been spending heavily in recent weeks in the hopes of lifting her out of single digits and into contention with Mace and Wilson.
So far, that effort appears to be working…
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RELATED | NEW CROSSROADS 2026 POLLING
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As for Wilson’s transfers from his attorney general account, state law allows candidates to transfer funds from one campaign account to another – if they receive permission from individual donors.
“Every single transfer required permission,” Wynn noted of Wilson’s efforts on that front. “Alan had to pick up the phone and have a conversation. He did it. And there are still more transfers on the way.”
Wynn claimed the rest of Wilson’s haul – more than $1 million – was “new money” based on “fresh support” and “new momentum.” Wynn also noted that “across all entities” nearly $4 million had been raised “in support of Alan Wilson’s run for governor,” a reference to money raised by a political action committee that’s backing Wilson – and savaging his rivals.
Early polling shows Wilson, Mace and Evette running very close to one another at the head of the pack… with Norman in striking distance behind them.
Filing for next spring’s partisan primary elections opens in March, with the primaries scheduled for June 9, 2026. In the event no candidate wins a majority of votes on the first ballot, a runoff election would be held two weeks later (on June 23, 2026). The GOP primary is the race to watch in South Carolina, as Democrats haven’t won a gubernatorial election or a U.S. Senate race since 1998 – and haven’t won a statewide election since 2006. That means the GOP nominee is all but assured of prevailing in the general election next November.
Count on FITSNews to provide more detailed campaign finance numbers once each candidate formally submits their paperwork for the third quarter with the S.C. Ethics Commission (SCSEC) later this month.
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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
Dad is a sitting Congressman and this is all that falls outta the tree?
As an aside, yelling “You lie” during the State of the Union will forever go down as the crudest and objectively funniest thing in SC politics, ever. What kind of cracked out redneck hollers out like that on national tv? How do you ever tell your kids, grandkids, or AOC how to act when you literally can’t control yourself during the State of the Union?
These numbers show that even the people that need dad’s vote understand Alan does not poll well unless you understand how his dike keeps water in the swamp.
Let’s all just take a deep breath, exhale, and quietly never have to listen to Alan Wilson, ever again. Doesn’t that sound nice?
I have been friends with Joe Wilson and his family for decades. “Gentleman Joe” (not my moniker, but Congress’s) adopted Alan and has raised him as his own. He grew up with the firm unyielding adherence to honesty, decency, justice, and fair play that his father also wears like a suit of honor. Liberals can’t understand that; any more than they can understand that when Joe cried out “You Lie!” it was a deep-souled, pained protest against the endless stream of lies pouring from Obama’s mouth, about a health care plan that stole health care from millions (including my husband), and put the cost of it out of reach for millions more.
But he stays dead silent while Trump speaks, tells us all we need to know.
Bea, I would like to sell you some real estate. Please call me as soon as you can with your bank account and ssn handy.