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by WILL FOLKS
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Polls of early voters aren’t scientific exercises. If they were, the Republican gubernatorial runoff we are covering in South Carolina would be between Lowcountry multi-millionaire Rom Reddy and four-term attorney general Alan Wilson.
Wilson and Reddy led the five-person GOP field in polls of early voters taken ahead of the June 9, 2026 Republican primary election for governor of the Palmetto State. While those surveys may have accurately reflected the early vote, they didn’t reflect the final tally on election day.
When all the GOP primary votes were counted, Reddy finished a distant fourth – a humiliating finish given all the money he poured into his candidacy. Meanwhile, Wilson came in just behind first-place finisher Pamela Evette, the Palmetto State’s charisma-challenged lieutenant governor.
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????? Massive crowd for @AGAlanWilson earlier tonight @Docs_BBQ in Richland County, S.C. #Crossroads2026 pic.twitter.com/afNEy86UJ3
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) June 23, 2026
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Because neither Evette nor Wilson received a majority of ballots cast, they advanced to a head-to-head runoff election – one Wilson appears to be dominating if polls, prediction markets and presidential hedges are to be believed.
Now we can add early voting surveys to the growing list of indicators pointing to a Wilson landslide…
According to a survey released on election eve by Columbia, S.C.-based strategist Jon Parker, early runoff voters favored Wilson by a whopping 72% – compared to just 28% for Evette.
“The signal is hard to miss,” Parker noted. “If election day looks anything like the early vote, South Carolina’s GOP runoff frontrunners are headed for decisive wins.”
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Early vote toplines are out, and the signal is hard to miss:
— Jon Parker (@jonparkersc) June 23, 2026
Wilson leads 72–28.
Stumbo leads 64–36.
Simpson leads 65–35.
If Election Day looks anything like the early vote, South Carolina’s GOP runoff frontrunners are headed for decisive wins. See the full survey results here:… pic.twitter.com/RrmMWSyOkj
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Indeed. Should that margin – or anything resembling it – hold on election night, Wilson would be in line for a historic victory.
As we reported earlier this week, Republicans dominated early runoff voting this cycle. According to data compiled by the S.C. State Election Commission (SCVotes), of the 75,524 voters who cast ballots last Wednesday and Thursday (June 17-18, 2026), 63,184 of them – or 83.66% – participated in the GOP runoff.
By contrast, only 9,288 (or 12.3%) voted in the Democrat runoff.
Early-voting Republicans turned out in droves in Greenville (8,125), Horry (5,538), Spartanburg (5,043) Charleston (4,224), Anderson (3,610), Lexington (3,247) and Berkeley (3,102) counties for the runoff races – with Pickens (2,815), Richland (2,764) and Beaufort (2,411) not far behind.
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Conducted for South Carolina’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Parker’s poll surveyed more than 700 early Republican voters who cast their ballots last Wednesday and Thursday (June 17-18, 2026).
In addition to the governor’s race, Parker also surveyed early voters regarding their choices for attorney general and commissioner of agriculture. In the race to become South Carolina’s next top prosecutor, S.C. eighth circuit solicitor David Stumbo was backed by 64% of early voters, per the survey – compared to 36% for state senator Stephen Goldfinch. In the agriculture commissioner race, Cody Simpson of Home Branch, S.C. led Danny Lee Ford II of Central, S.C. by a 65-35% margin.
How closely will these early voting results mirror the final numbers? We’ll know soon enough. For now, here are the details of the early voter survey released Monday evening by Parker…
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THE SURVEY…
(Faith and Freedom Coalition)
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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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SOUND OFF…
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1 comment
Yep—nobody ever went broke betting on the stupidity of SC Republican voters—now voters’ option is a runoff between a Trump hack continuation of RINO McMaster or the pompous egotist son of RINO Joe Wilson…real conservative supporters will send an indelible response by NOT voting for either AGAIN…as James Gregory is calling from his grave—here’s your sign STUPID !!!