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by MARK POWELL
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Want to play a fun game? For the next twelve days, count how many times South Carolina lieutenant governor Pamela Evette says the name “Trump” in her speeches and commercials. You’ll need a NASA calculator to keep track of a number that big.
Henry McMaster‘s No. 2 – who wants the top job herself – has made the president a perpetual presence in her campaign from the moment she entered the contest for the GOP nomination.
“She brings him up so often,” one political operative quipped, “I’m surprised she hasn’t legally changed her name to Pamela ‘I’m Trump’s Gal’ Evette. That would save her a lot of time on the stump.”
After securing his coveted endorsement in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary election, Evette has played the ‘Trump Card’ relentlessly ever since. Donald Trump, in turn, has amply rewarded her steadfast ring kissing with such largesse as participating in a tele-town hall meeting with her supporters Monday afternoon (something he hasn’t done often in 2026).
While Trump’s backing is a very big deal, it’s not the be-all some might think, either.
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“Here’s Evette’s problem,” a Washington D.C. pollster unaffiliated with any South Carolina campaign explained. “She’s at risk of becoming a one-trick pony. By now, her Trump endorsement has reached saturation among GOP voters. If she keeps on repeating it ad infinitum as she’s done the past two weeks, she runs the real risk of turning off the very people whose votes she needs now, more than ever. Because at this point, Evette is in danger of her message becoming, ‘president Trump blah-blah-blah; president Trump blah blah blah.’ A ‘been there, heard that before’ factor is coming into play. She needs to bolster her Trump messaging with a new element to make sure voters keep paying attention to her.”
That has some political pros now wondering: could that ‘new element’ be announcing her choice of running mate?
Her reported first choice, Henry McMaster, Jr. – the current governor’s son and namesake – imploded with the ferocity of the Hindenburg explosion. Burned by that debacle, Evette is said to be gun-shy of choosing a No. 2 of her own so close to the runoff election.
But the political landscape (and the dynamics that shape it) changed Tuesday night when the primary votes were counted.
State representative Jermaine Johnson not only clinched the Democrat Party’s gubernatorial nomination without a runoff, he totally obliterated his two wealthy, white opponents in the process.
“It wasn’t a primary,” one veteran Palmetto political observer told us; “it was a political tour de force.”
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RELATED | JERMAINE JOHNSON WINS DEMOCRAT NOMINATION
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Johnson is now the second black Democrat to secure his party’s gubernatorial nomination. The first was former state senator Theo Mitchell, who was easily dispatched by governor Carroll Campbell in 1990.
If Evette were facing just Johnson, that would be one thing. But race is now a quiet issue in the GOP camp as well. Attorney general Alan Wilson – who advanced to the runoff against Evette on Tuesday – named his running mate back in January. Wilson chose state senator Mike Reichenbach of Florence, who is also black.
“Race isn’t supposed to be a factor in this day and age,” the political strategist shared with us, “But the blunt truth is, it all too often still is.”
It also potentially impacts the calculus for Evette – who touted the value of diversity in her 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor.
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DEI “scourge”? Will the Real Lt. Governor please stand up… pic.twitter.com/WXmd16wRym
— Justin Bamberg, Esq. (@JustinBamberg) June 3, 2026
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“Does she, a white woman, want to face two minority rivals with a white running mate at her side?” the strategist mused.
There are also lingering headaches from the last lieutenant gubernatorial fiasco to consider.
“A bad aftertaste remains in the mouths of many South Carolina voters after the Evette-McMaster fiasco,” the pollster explained. “If she names her pick for lieutenant governor now, before the runoff, some voters will ask, ‘I wonder what kind of deal was struck this time around?’ Given how badly Evette and her campaign bungled the first go around, that would be a fair question.”
With little-known Lowcountry lawmakers Gil Gatch and James Teeple reportedly topping Evette’s list of contenders, she also must consider whether her choice will move the needle politically – especially with Wilson making a solid pick and Johnson reportedly contemplating a groundbreaking selection of his own in the general election.
Whatever she decides to do, time is not Evette’s friend. With the runoff’s one and only debate between her and Wilson scheduled for next Tuesday night (June 16, 2026) at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, the clock is ticking if she wants to make a move.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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