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by WILL FOLKS
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Voters across South Carolina headed to the polls today (and during early voting over the prior two weeks) to shape the political future of the Palmetto State — and FITSNews tracked all the big developments in key races before, during and after the ballots are counted.
From the battle to succeed term-limited, status quo governor Henry McMaster to the high-profile Republican primary for attorney general – as well as a surprisingly competitive race for the U.S. Senate – tonight’s results will determine which candidates advance to runoff elections in two weeks time, which candidates qualify for the general election in November… and which candidates see their political careers come crashing down to earth.
Remember, in South Carolina if no candidate receives a majority of votes (i.e. more than 50%) on tonight’s ballots, the top two candidates in each race advance to head-to-head runoff elections two weeks from today (June 23, 2026).
Based on pre-election polling, runoffs are expected in most of the high-profile races we are covering tonight… meaning we’ll be back here in two weeks to do this all over again.
Polls close at 7:00 p.m. EDT, at which point results will begin to appear on our feed below…
REFRESH FOR LATEST RESULTS, NEWEST CONTENT
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THE LIVE FEED…
7:41 p.m. EDT – For those of you interested in tracking the official race calls…
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Polls are now closed across South Carolina, where vote counting in today's primary elections is getting started.
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) June 9, 2026
I'll be posting #APRaceCalls here, but in the meantime, you can follow along with AP's Live Updates from SC/ME/ND primaries here ?? https://t.co/QgZckvnTJl
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7:38 p.m. EDT – And the early lead goes to… Pamela Evette on the GOP side, state representative Jermaine Johnson on the Democrat side.
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7:34 p.m. EDT – The first results are trickling in…
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7:27 p.m. EDT – Our Andy Fancher is on the scene at Pamela Evette‘s campaign watch party in Greenville, S.C.
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7:21 p.m. EDT – To recap the early voting numbers, 188,006 Democrats cast ballots prior to election day while 131,574 Republicans voted early. Democrats have already eclipsed their top-of-the-ticket turnout from 2022, while the GOP total constituted 37.5% of its turnout from four years ago.
How many voters showed up today? We’ll find out soon…
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7:03 p.m. EDT – Our Carson Sheppard is on the scene at attorney general Alan Wilson‘s campaign watch party in downtown Columbia, S.C. where it appears several reporter are already gathering…
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7:00 p.m. EDT – Polls are closed…
???? Closing time, y'all. Unless you're standing in line to vote, it's officially all over but the counting. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." #SCVotes pic.twitter.com/1KtACxs7mE
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) June 9, 2026
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6:50 p.m. EDT – One of the Palmetto politicos who has a lot riding on tonight’s results is Wesley Donehue. After reportedly being pushed out of the national firm he founded, Donehue launched a new S.C.-based operation last year that has managed the campaigns of Lowcountry multimillionaire Rom Reddy for governor and S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe for attorney general.
How Reddy and Pascoe fare in their respective primary elections will go a long way toward determining Donehue’s future in South Carolina politics…
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6:41 p.m. EDT – Some updated county-level turnout totals as we approach the closing of polls…
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???? #SCVotes: as of 6:30 p.m. EDT (half an hour before polls close), 59.5K election day ballots have been cast in Greenville County, 37.4K in Charleston, 37K in Richland, 36K in Horry, 30K in Spartanburg, 30K in Lexington, 23K Anderson, 21K in Beaufort… that's over 270,000… pic.twitter.com/2CFlAIW3H0
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) June 9, 2026
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6:27 p.m. EDT – Another huge narrative we’ve been following in the Republican gubernatorial primary is the impact of president Donald Trump‘s endorsement of lieutenant governor Pamela Evette. Multiple pollsters tracking this race have told us Evette received a big initial bump from the Trump endorsement, only to see it vanish as the story became more about the alleged quid pro quo that precipitated it.
Does Trump – whose endorsement of Henry McMaster eight years ago saved his bacon – still have the magic touch in the Palmetto State?
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6:20 p.m. EDT – We are receiving multiple reports from Colleton County indicating that state representative Michael F. Rivers Sr., a pastor, pulled a gun at a precinct in Green Pond, S.C. earlier today.
Law enforcement reportedly responded… no word on the status of the investigation.
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6:15 p.m. EDT – One of the things we’ve consistently heard from pollsters is that Lowcountry multimillionaire Rom Reddy has fared better in pre-election surveys that feature text-to-web responses – and fared worse in traditional live operator polls to landlines and cell phones. Depending on which survey you believe, Reddy could finish below 10% tonight or above 25%.
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6:08 p.m. EDT – It’s not an election in South Carolina without somebody getting arrested… and without their exes trolling them on social media.
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Omg I had a very brief relationship with him. Wow psycho. https://t.co/iQpEkI7MB8
— Grant (@glank) June 9, 2026
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6:00 p.m. EDT – In case you missed it, we reported earlier today on a poll of early voters in the Republican primary… are these results a possible preview of things to come?
ALAN WILSON – 27.5%
ROM REDDY – 21.5%
PAMELA EVETTE – 18.9%
RALPH NORMAN – 17.0%
NANCY MACE – 10.0%
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5:56 p.m. EDT – Polls in this race have been all over the map. We’ll find out tonight which ones were accurate and which ones weren’t. Speaking of polls, here are what we have been told are the final internal survey numbers from the campaign of Lowcountry multimillionaire Rom Reddy…
ALAN WILSON – 32.1%
ROM REDDY – 26.2%
PAMELA EVETTE – 16.3%
RALPH NORMAN – 16.0%
NANCY MACE – 1.9%
UNDECIDED – 5.5%
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5:36 p.m. EDT – Chasing down a hot rumor that S.C. first district congresswoman Nancy Mace was attempting to convince fifth district congressman Ralph Norman to pick her as his lieutenant governor…. Norman obviously went in another direction, reportedly declining to even consider Mace even though his allies and strategists urged him to do so.
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5:22 p.m. EDT – Money has been huge in this race – including the presence of three self-funders in the GOP governor’s race. We’ve reported on the financial component of this election extensively in recent days, but here’s a look at total broadcast, cable, streaming and satellite spending as of this morning…
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5:14 p.m. EDT – For those of you keeping score at home, these were the final pre-election poll results from veteran South Carolina political strategist Robert Cahaly, who in previous statewide elections has been absolutely dead on the money when it comes to his numbers.
Cahaly has been a bit of an outlier in the S.C. governor’s race, but we’ll see soon whether his final surveys are on the mark…
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BREAKING: @trafalgar_group SC GOP Primary 2026 Governor, US Senate, and Attorney General Final Poll (06/05-06/07)
— Robert C. Cahaly (@RobertCahaly) June 9, 2026
1200 Respondents
2.9 MOE
SC GOP Gov:
22.4% @PamelaEvette
20.7% @AGAlanWilson
17.5% @RomReddySC
15.9% @RalphNorman
13.9% @NancyMace
0.6% @JoshKimbrellSC
0.5%… pic.twitter.com/8kYvt4IDjE
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SOUND OFF…
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1 comment
Word is Nancy Mace has already left her watch party. She’s going drinking.