Crossroads 2026: Money Battle Update

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by WILL FOLKS

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Three months ago, we updated our audience on the state of play in South Carolina’s 2026 governor’s race – specifically its ongoing campaign finance battle. This week, the all-important money war took another significant step forward as candidates revealed their financial positioning heading into the homestretch of this critical contest.

Last Saturday (January 10, 2026) the deadline arrived for candidates to submit their fourth quarter 2025 campaign finance reports to the S.C. State Ethics Commission (SCSEC), the agency which oversees campaign finance reporting in the Palmetto State. The fourth quarter covers campaign contributions and expenditures from October 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025.

As previously noted, the Republican gubernatorial primary is the race to watch in South Carolina – a state which hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide post in twenty years. The GOP race features four main contenders at this point: four-term attorney general Alan Wilson, lieutenant governor Pamela Evette, fifth district congressman Ralph Norman and first district congresswoman Nancy Mace.

Recent polling shows Wilson in the lead, although Evette, Norman and Mace are all very much in striking distance. And while conventional wisdom holds that the field is set, there remains the possibility of late entries into the contest.

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Decisions must be made soon, though. Candidates have between 12:00 p.m. EDT on March 16, 2026 and 12:00 p.m. EDT on March 30, 2026 to formally submit their paperwork to seek the office.

Since we’ve previously reported on Norman’s fundraising announcement, we’ll start with his results this quarter.

According to his latest SCSEC filing, Norman raised $504,309.80 in contributions during the recently concluded quarter, bringing his contribution total since announcing his candidacy on July 27, 2025 to $1,312,655.81. Including a $500,000 loan from himself, Norman added a cool $1,004,309.80 to his ledger last quarter. All told, Norman has brought in $2,312,655.81 to his candidacy since announcing – including $1,000,000 in money loaned to his effort.

After spending $241,567.81 during the most recent quarter (and $428,193.56 since jumping into the race), Norman had $1,884,462.25 in his campaign coffers as of January 1, 2026 – easily the highest total of any GOP candidate in the election.

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Wilson’s campaign was second to Norman in available resources with a total of $1,346,823.24 in the bank at the beginning of the year. Since announcing his candidacy on June 23, 2025, Wilson has brought in $1,832,259.18 in contributions – including $533,219.81 during the recently concluded quarter.

He spent $274,737.80 over the past three months – and has spent $489,240.86 since launching his candidacy. That makes his campaign second only to Norman in its frugality.

At the other end of that spectrum is Evette, who has been blowing through cash with reckless abandon. In fact, Evette has nearly outspent all of the other campaigns combined since officially entering the race on July 14, 2025. The second-term lieutenant governor has dropped a whopping $1,322,723.01 on her candidacy – including $434,895.44 spent during the latest quarter.

While that massive cash burn helped propel her from single digits into the top tier of the field, her stock has slid in recent months. Nonetheless, Evette led all candidates with $1,010,896.05 worth of contributions during the fourth quarter – bringing her campaign total to $2,426,683.43 (an amount which included a $300,000 loan).

Heading into 2026, Evette had $1,103,960.42 in her coffers – trailing both Norman and Wilson.

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Last among the major challengers was Mace, the firebrand congresswoman and former frontrunner who has collapsed in the polls in recent months. Mace raised $571,030.95 during the fourth quarter – bringing her total haul since announcing her candidacy on August 4, 2025 to $1,638,705.56.

While Mace was second to Evette in fourth quarter contributions, she’s also second to Evette in the amount of money she has spent on her campaign. After spending $425,438.52 from October through December last year, Mace has now dropped $776,768.41 on her candidacy.

Headed into 2026, she had just $861,937.15 on hand – the lowest total of the four major contenders.

As we have previously noted, these filings only represent campaign finance reports linked to the official committee organizations of each candidate. There are multiple political action committees spending even bigger bucks in support of – or opposition to – different candidates.

Partisan primary elections in South Carolina are 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 since 1998 – and haven’t won a statewide election since 2006. That means the GOP nominee in this race is all but assured of prevailing in the general election next November.

Speaking of the Democrats, state representative Jermaine Johnson has not filed a fourth quarter report, while wealthy trial lawyer Mullins McLeod reported raising $26,270.00 during the latest filing period – and $115,480.00 over the course of his campaign. McLeod has also loaned himself $2,350,000.00 – giving him $1,945,642.08 on hand headed into the year.

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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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