South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who secured a late endorsement from President Donald Trump, and state Attorney General Alan Wilson advanced to a Republican primary runoff in the race to be the state's next governor, NBC News projects.
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The runoff will take place June 23 after no candidate won more than 50% of vote Tuesday. With more than 80% of the expected vote tallied, Evette was taking 29% support compared to 26% for Wilson.
The eventual GOP nominee will be a heavy front-runner to replace term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster in the solidly red state this fall.
From the start, the crowded primary race centered on an all-out battle among the top candidates to land Trump's endorsement. Evette emerged with the nod in the closing weeks of the campaign and has repeatedly promoted it.
On Monday, her campaign blasted out a news release headlined “President Trump Doubles Down on his ‘Complete and Total Endorsement'†of Evette, pointing to another Truth Social post in which Trump touted his support for her. Trump also held a tele-rally Monday evening for Evette and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is up for re-election.
Evette name-checked Trump three times in a statement she released after she advanced to the runoff.
“To the great people of South Carolina: thank you,†she said on X. “I am honored and humbled by our first-place finish. This victory would not have been possible without @realDonaldTrump‘s complete and total endorsement and the strong support of Gov. @henrymcmaster. 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 — let's go win this thing, again!â€
Wilson, the son of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., has been the state's attorney general for more than 15 years and has touted endorsements from local law enforcement, as well as his service in the South Carolina National Guard.
“Tonight, 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 said in a statement. “Conservatives said this office must be earned, not arranged.â€
Several high-ranking South Carolina elected Republicans joined Evette in the contest, including Wilson and Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman. Self-funding businessman Rom Reddy also gained steam late in the race.
Earlier in the campaign, Mace looked like she might have an inside track to Trump's endorsement, enjoying a close relationship with him. Mace worked for Trump's 2016 campaign, but after she won her seat in 2020, she turned sharply critical of him following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. But in the run-up to Trump's 2024 re-election bid, Mace returned to the fold as a stalwart ally, boosting him in her state's presidential primary against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
“No one will work harder to earn his endorsement,†Mace said in a statement last fall.
But the relationship began to sour as Mace, along with other Republican women in Congress, championed the release of the federal government's files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mace late last year lost one of her top advisers, who said she “yet again decided to turn her back on MAGA.â€
Mace wound up finishing a distant fifth in the primary, placing third or fourth in the counties within the congressional district she represents, the 1st.
Mace said Tuesday she would throw her support behind Wilson, whom she was previously deeply critical of, after having made amends with him.
“Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life,†she said in a statement, adding: “I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that. As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund. I chose to expose DEI judges. I chose to expose the abusers of children. And apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election.â€
“I'm at peace with that,†she continued. “Because when a candidate is OK with corruption and cover-ups — something is broken. … This isn't the end of the fight. It's just the end of this chapter.â€
Norman was a long shot for Trump's endorsement from the get-go, given he was Haley's lone congressional backer during her 2024 presidential run.
Reddy, a far lesser-known candidate, refused to take any campaign donations and expressed deep skepticism of building AI-powering data centers in the state, saying at a gubernatorial debate in April that he was “dead opposed†to their construction.
