With South Carolina’s two-week runoff sprint barreling into its final weekend, the contentious GOP governor’s race between Lt. Governor Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson continued to dominate headlines as the candidates sought to position themselves for the Tuesday showdown.
For Evette, that meant trying to put to bed a controversy kicked off by President Donald Trump when he paired his May 29 endorsement of the lieutenant governor with an announcement that he expected her to pick the governor’s son, Henry McMaster Jr., as her running mate.
“To be very clear, and as I’ve said before and will say again, Henry D. McMaster Jr. will not be my running mate,” Evette said Thursday in a campaign video before rattling off the names of nine people she’s considering for the position.
Those potential running mates are: former Trump Commerce Department official Joe Semsar; former state Rep. Adam Morgan; current state Reps. Jordan Pace, Patrick Haddon, Tommy Pope, Case Brittain and James Teeple; Florence attorney Hood Temple; and Horry County Councilman Tyler Servant.
Meanwhile, the Wilson campaign worked to counter-program Evette’s announcement by spotlighting a state government performance and efficiency audit he’s asked his already-announced running mate, Florence Sen. Mike Reichenbach, to lead if elected.
“While my opponent is still delaying making a decision on who she will pick as her running mate,” Wilson said in a release, “we’ve already put together a team and a plan to make South Carolina stronger, safer, and more affordable.”
A raucous debate
The late-week campaign jockeying followed a high-stakes Tuesday night TV debate that saw both candidates throw political haymakers and conservative red meat to a raucous crowd at Coastal Carolina University.
“While my opponent was cutting ribbons in a ceremonial job and wasting time in the lieutenant governor’s office, I was out there fighting for you,” Wilson said in an opening statement that highlighted his active duty combat service and record as attorney general.
Cracking back in her response, Evette reframed Wilson’s four terms in office as a negative for GOP voters.
“There’s two of us on stage now and the choice will be really clear: You can pick a Trump-endorsed businesswoman or you can pick a career politician,” Evette said, gesturing toward her opponent.
Things only turned crankier as the night wore on, as each candidate accused the other of lying in campaign materials.
In particular, Evette took umbrage at Wilson’s claim that her company’s diversity consulting made her a “DEI queen,” saying “he knows full well that I did not profit from DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion).
Meanwhile, Wilson denounced an Evette TV ad that suggests he raised his own salary as attorney general when it was imposed in 2022 by a legislature-controlled compensation commission.
But on a night when the candidates could find little to disagree about on the issues, from expanding private school vouchers to eliminating the state income tax, one major difference did emerge on the question of casino gambling.
Wilson, like Evette’s mentor McMaster, said he has “serious concerns,” citing law enforcement concerns. Conversely, Evette argued that it should be a referendum question for voters.
“If it has a good impact, then you’ve got to take it to the people when it comes to casinos,” she said.
Major endorsements and a Trump rumor
As both campaigns rolled out major state and national endorsements throughout the week, political analysts said the largest prize of the week may have gone to Wilson, when former candidate and 5th District U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, who won four Upstate counties on his way to a third-place finish on June 9, came the attorney general’s way.
In a series of statements and social media posts, Norman hit repeatedly on the casino gambling issue.
“We will not become the Las Vegas of the Southeast despite what Pam Evette’s donors want,” Norman said in a Thursday social media post. “On June 23rd, vote for @AGAlanWilson, a battle-tested conservative who won’t put a price tag on South Carolina values.”
Complicating the endorsement picture further for Evette was a June 16 Washington Post report indicating that Trump, who’s said to be concerned about current polling in the race, was considering a new dual endorsement that would include both Evette and Wilson.
“I’ve already endorsed the president, and if he were to endorse me, it would of course mean a lot,” Wilson told reporters Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, the most important endorsement is the endorsement each voter gives me when they walk into that booth and check my name on their ballot.”
Evette dismissed the report in a June 18 interview with MyHorryNews, calling it “hearsay.”
“What I will tell you with a hundred percent certainty is the president called me Tuesday night after I won and told me I had his full support, that he was proud of me and he was going to do whatever he can to help me win big on the 23rd,” Evette said.
With both candidates showing significant election-night strength across the state and able to compete financially, political watchers tell Statehouse Report they expect the race to go down to the wire.
Other major runoffs on Tuesday’s ballot
In addition to the GOP governor’s runoff, Republicans will return to the polls Tuesday to settle two statewide races.
In the state attorney general’s race, Georgetown Sen. Stephen Goldfinch is facing off against 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo. And for Agriculture Commissioner, Cody Simpson is squaring off against Danny Ford II.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the 1st Congressional District will settle a race between Berkeley County Rep. Mark Smith and Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt.
On the Democratic side, there are no statewide runoffs, but two congressional races.
In the 1st Congressional District, voters will choose between retired Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore and Coast Guard veteran and attorney Mac Deford.
And in the 2nd District, voters will choose either David Robinson II or Zyon Khalifa, both military veterans, to take on incumbent GOP Rep. Joe Wilson, who happens to be Alan Wilson’s father.
All valid S.C. voters who did not participate in the other party’s primary on June 9 are eligible to vote in the runoff primaries.
Jack O’Toole is Statehouse bureau chief for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
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