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by WILL FOLKS
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A former South Carolina state lawmaker has filed a wide-ranging ethics complaint against a candidate for statewide office this fall – alleging numerous violations of state campaign finance and disclosure laws.
Sandy McGarry, who formerly represented Lancaster County in the S.C. House of Representatives, submitted a complaint last Thursday (September 3, 2026) against Sylvia Wright – the Democrat nominee for state superintendent of education.
Wright, a North Charleston native, defeated fellow Democrat Lisa Ellis in the June 2026 primary election, receiving 218,208 votes (or 61.02% of all ballots cast). She is currently campaigning against Republican incumbent Ellen Weaver, who is widely expected to win a second, four-year term this fall.
McGarry’s complaint (.pdf) accused Wright of running negative campaign balances, accepting contributions from a registered lobbyist, posting inaccurate data on her contributors and failing to properly disclose income received from taxpayers. The former lawmaker is asking the S.C. State Ethics Commission (SCSEC) – the entity tasked with enforcing the Palmetto State’s campaign finance laws – to “investigate Sylvia Wright for violations.”
According to Wright’s most recent campaign finance disclosure form, submitted in July of this year, she posted total receipts of $189,293.94 dating back to the launch of her campaign in January 2024. However, that same filing revealed expenditures totaling $200,525.10 – leaving her with a negative campaign balance of $10,763.31.
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According to her own campaign filings, Wright’s campaign has been running at a deficit since the first quarter of last year – including a $21,047.12 deficit reported during the third quarter of 2025.
How has she managed to run a statewide campaign for the last year-and-a-half with no money? That’s a question McGarry wants to have answered…
“The discrepancy raises additional questions concerning whether Wright failed to disclose one or more campaign loans, contributions, accounts, expenditures, or other financial transactions necessary to reconcile the campaign’s reported receipts, expenditures, and cash on hand,” McGarry noted in her complaint, alleging that Wright’s campaign filings “reflect an ongoing reporting discrepancy rather than a single mathematical or clerical error.”
McGarry’s complaint also alleged that Wright received four campaign contributions from MaryRita Watson, a registered lobbyist with the S.C. Education Association.
“Wright has not, to date, reported refunding those contributions,” McGarry claimed, noting the contributions made by Watson provided “sufficient grounds for the ethics commission to determine whether Watson engaged in lobbying the office for which Wright seeks election.”
McGarry’s complaint further accused Wright of inaccurately reporting the occupation of numerous contributors – and of failing to properly disclose income she received from Dorchester County school district four. Wright listed this money – her only disclosed source of income – as “private,” when the complaint argued it should have been listed as “income received from a South Carolina governmental entity.”
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RELATED | EDUCATORS EXPOSED
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FITSNews has reached out to Wright for comment on the complaint. In the event we receive a response, we will update our coverage accordingly.
Wright is facing an uphill battle against Weaver, who emerged from a hard-fought GOP primary in the spring of 2022 to convincingly win election as superintendent – garnering 937,493 votes (or 55.52% of all ballots cast) that fall. Weaver ran unopposed in the 2026 GOP primary for superintendent.
Prior to her election four years ago, Weaver was president and chief executive officer of Palmetto Promise – a think tank founded by former U.S. senator Jim DeMint.
Weaver is campaigning on a record of raising teacher salaries, improving teacher training and improving academic achievement in South Carolina – which has historically ranked among the nation’s worst states when it comes to preparing future generations for the challenges that await them.
“She has delivered on the promises she made to students, teachers, and parents — raising pay and securing paid parental leave for teachers, launching bold literacy and math reforms, expanding education choice, and cutting red tape so teachers can focus on teaching,” Weaver’s website noted.
Democrats have not won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006. That year, former superintendent Jim Rex narrowly defeated Upstate magazine publisher Karen Floyd. Rex was defeated in 2010 and has subsequently left the Democrat party.
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THE COMPLAINT…
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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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