Evette and Wilson advance in South Carolina GOP runoff

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson advanced Tuesday to a Republican runoff for governor, setting up a June 23 contest after no candidate won a majority in the crowded primary.

Evette, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the final weeks of the campaign, finished first. Wilson, the state’s attorney general for more than 15 years, placed second. NBC News projected the runoff, and The Associated Press called the race shortly after 9 p.m. ET. With an estimated 54% of the vote counted, Evette had 29.1%, Wilson had 26.5%, Rep. Ralph Norman had 16.4%, businessman Rom Reddy had 14.9% and Rep. Nancy Mace had 11.4%, Talking Points Memo reported.

The eventual Republican nominee will be heavily favored in the fall election in solidly Republican South Carolina, where Gov. Henry McMaster is term-limited.

Trump’s endorsement was a central focus of the primary from the start, as several leading candidates sought his support. Evette secured it late in the race and highlighted it repeatedly. On Monday, her campaign circulated a release headlined, “President Trump Doubles Down on his ‘Complete and Total Endorsement’ of Evette,” pointing to another Truth Social post in which Trump promoted her campaign. Trump also held a tele-rally Monday night for Evette and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is seeking re-election.

When Trump endorsed Evette on Truth Social, he called her “the only South Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate to Endorse me as soon as I launched my 2024 Presidential Campaign,” Talking Points Memo reported. The outlet also reported that the endorsement was widely seen as a nod to McMaster, Evette’s political ally and the state’s longest-serving governor. Trump wrote that he had heard McMaster’s son, Henry McMaster Jr., would run with Evette for lieutenant governor, but the younger McMaster later said he did not want the job.

Wilson, the son of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., has emphasized endorsements from local law enforcement and his service in the South Carolina National Guard.

The outcome left two members of Congress, Mace and Norman, out of the runoff after both gave up their House seats to run for governor. Mace, who worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign, criticized him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol but later became a strong supporter during his 2024 campaign, backing him in South Carolina’s presidential primary against former Gov. Nikki Haley.

Earlier in the governor’s race, Mace appeared to be a contender for Trump’s backing. “No one will work harder to earn his endorsement,” she said in a statement last fall. But her relationship with Trump deteriorated as she and other Republican women in Congress pushed for the release of federal files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. “That’s the sole reason I didn’t get the endorsement, because I voted to release the Epstein files, and I’m okay with that,” Mace told Politico last week, according to Talking Points Memo. She also told Fox News before the vote, “I disagree with this endorsement. And I’m going to vote for myself. I’m asking voters in South Carolina to vote for me as well.”

Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, was considered a long shot for Trump’s endorsement because he was the only member of Congress to back Haley during her 2024 presidential campaign.

Reddy, a lesser-known businessman, refused campaign donations and gained attention late in the race. At an April debate, he said he was “dead opposed” to the construction of AI-powering data centers in South Carolina.