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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina lieutenant governor Pamela Evette and four-term attorney general Alan Wilson pulled away from the rest of the Republican field on Tuesday evening (June 9, 2026) – qualifying for a head-to-head runoff election in the race for governor of the Palmetto State.
That race will be held in two weeks time…
Evette – buoyed by the endorsement of president Donald Trump – finished first overall in the five-person field. With all precincts reporting, she had garnered 136,390 votes (or 28.9% of ballots counted).
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“I am honored and humbled by our first-place finish,” Evette said. “This victory would not have been possible without President Trump’s complete and total endorsement and the strong support of governor Henry McMaster. No doubt President Trump’s strong support was the rocket fuel that propelled us to first place. Thank you, Mr. President, for your trust and support. Now, back to work!”
Trump called Evette to congratulate her on her victory, which he touted on his Truth Social page…
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Wilson was right on Evette’s heels, however, drawing 123,559 votes (or 26.1% of ballots counted). Because neither candidate received a majority of ballots on the initial vote, both advanced to a head-to-head runoff election on June 23, 2026.
“South Carolina families sent a clear message: they want a governor who will fight for their families, lower costs, keep communities safe, and put taxpayers first,” Wilson told his backers.
“Conservatives said this office must be earned, not arranged,” vowing to appeal to his former rivals in the hopes of earning their support.
“I will fight for you, your family, and the conservative values we share,” Wilson added. “Together, we can lower costs, keep our communities safe, put taxpayers first, and bring a new era of conservative leadership to South Carolina.”
As the results were being reported, Wilson’s campaign received the endorsement of one of his former rivals – first district congresswoman Nancy Mace.
“Tonight, I want you to know that I’m going to endorse Alan Wilson for governor,” Mace told her supporters. “I want a law and order governor, and that law and order governor is going to be Alan Wilson.”
Mace had been one of Wilson’s most aggressive critics, but indicated she and the state’s top prosecutor had “buried the hatchet.”
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While polling had long shown Evette and Wilson leading the field, Lowcountry multi-millionaire Rom Reddy and fifth district congressman Ralph Norman both were expected to challenge for a spot in the runoff.
Ultimately, neither came close…
Norman drew 80,722 votes (or 17.1% of ballots counted) to finish a distant third place, while Reddy drew an anemic 66,922 votes (or 14.1% of ballots counted) to finish in fourth.
Norman did not immediately say whether he would endorse Wilson or Evette, while Reddy indicated he was staying out of the runoff election.
“I do believe that endorsements are an assault on self-governance,” Reddy said. “We should not have one elected official tell a citizen how to vote for another elected official, so I will not be endorsing anyone on this race. I think it’s for the citizens to decide.”
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Reddy spent a staggering $6.2 million of his own money on broadcast, cable, satellite and streaming advertisements during his three-month campaign – which he launched after abandoning the DOGE SC movement he supposedly founded to challenge the Palmetto State’s corrupt legislative tyranny.
Reddy’s campaign appeared to be breaking into the top tier of the GOP field during early voting, with polls indicating he trailed only Wilson among those who cast their ballots before election day.
To the extent it ever existed, though, his momentum collapsed once it came time to count ballots…
Speaking of counting ballots, while Republicans trailed Democrats by a sizable margin during the pre-election voting, they stormed back on election day. A whopping 468,120 South Carolinians voted in the GOP partisan primary for governor – compared to 368,074 who voted in the Democrat gubernatorial primary.
Stay tuned to FITSNews as we unpack the results from Tuesday… including a record 25% voter participation level (besting 2010’s high-water mark for the millennium).
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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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8 comments
I’m shocked that the carpet bagger did so much better than Wilson. I underestimated support for Reddy and Norman. It will be interesting to see how the voters go in the runoff. I still think Wilson will ultimately come out on top but I’m not sure I’d put more than a dollar on the bet.
The eventual Republican candidate will beat a surprisingly good dim candidate (Johnson) for gubernor (after he handily defeated the second most flawed candidate in this year’s primaries (McLeod)(Lynch is the most flawed candidate).
Josh and a wannabe nobody named Webster ought to get together and start the “irrelevant redundant party”. Glad we’re rid of Pasco (until next time). We’ll miss Crazy Train if only for the entertainment value…
“Carpet bagger” because she was born in the heartland state of Ohio and dutifully served two terms as South Carolina’s lieutenant governor?
Go ahead, The Colonel Top Fan, and build a wall around South Carolina. Only then, you will have to answer to BMW in Greer and Boeing in Charleston.
Oh! Right! BMW will need to pack up and move to Alabama next to Daimler Benz or to Tennessee next to Toyota because South Carolina is for the South-Carolina-born ONLY.
You, too, Boeing, pack up and leave! And spread the word: “No retirees need relocate to our warm climates. Our royal superior South-Carolina-born blood cannot stoop to accepting the born-elsewhere sub-humans around here.
We South Carolinians did not start the Civil War to see ourselves governed in our latter days by the Ohio-born endorsed by the New-York-born.”
Otherwise, I have been disillusioned in Pascoe for throwing red meat of wanton unconstitutional promises of executions for non-homicidal rape. Frankly, I think a capital penalty opponent can be elected AG of an enlightened South Carolina if that candidate awakens South Carolinians’ better angels.
OMG, what are you talking about? The entire Republican Party in the South has sworn undying and unquestioning allegiance to the ultimate carpetbagger. A New York conman, who is only in power because of Southern Republicans, and who is ripping everyone off, especially people who live in the South. He and his billionaire bros are stealing everything they can get their hands on. How much more carpetbagger can you be? At this point, how could you possibly underestimate how easily Southern Republicans are either bought or duped?
What?
“Carpet bagger” because she was born in the heartland state of Ohio and dutifully served two terms as South Carolina’s lieutenant governor?
Go ahead, The Colonel Top Fan, and build a wall around South Carolina. Only then, you will have to answer to BMW in Greer and Boeing in Charleston.
Oh! Right! BMW will need to pack up and move to Alabama next to Daimler Benz or to Tennessee next to Toyota because South Carolina is for the South-Carolina-born ONLY.
You, too, Boeing, pack up and leave! And spread the word: “No retirees need relocate to our warm climates. Our royal superior South-Carolina-born blood cannot stoop to accepting the born-elsewhere sub-humans around here.
We South Carolinians did not start the Civil War to see ourselves governed in our latter days by the Ohio-born endorsed by the New-York-born.”
Otherwise, I have been disillusioned in Pascoe for throwing red meat of wanton unconstitutional promises of executions for non-homicidal rape. Frankly, I think a capital penalty opponent can be elected AG of an enlightened South Carolina if that candidate awakens South Carolinians’ better angels.
No offense, but it’s not worth posting twice. While I personally don’t care where a person was born, look up the definition of carpetbagger. I think Everett meets the definition. Companies cannot be carpetbaggers, but their owners can. Not sure if any do. Not everyone who moves to the South from the North meets the definition of a carpetbagger, but one guy could actually have his picture put beside the term in the dictionary, and you could not come up with a better definition.
No offense taken or intended to be given; but what I meant is that South Carolinians cannot refuse to elect a public servant SOLELY because of her Ohio birth while aggressively and proudly courting Boeing to relocate from Seattle to Charleston and competing with Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, to attract ASIAN and EUROPEAN vehicle builders to establish plants in South Carolina.
I guess her polls were correct all along
Looks like we may wind up getting butthurt Pammy as Governor. Poor little thing. Those mean black kids at SC State didn’t want to be a captive audience for her to prattle on about what she wants to do to South Carolina as Governor. If she gets in, she will make Nikki Haley look like a true servant of the peoole by comparison.
Pammy will be getting tons of Joo money from that state-level version of AIPAC she so gleefully welcomed to SC, last year. She will be getting more because Trumpstein has blessed her campaign and he is controlled by the Joos, 100%.