Evette, Wilson head to runoff in SC governor’s race. Johnson clinches Democratic nomination.

COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s top prosecutor and lieutenant governor are headed to a June 23 runoff in the GOP bid for the Governor’s Mansion, while a state representative from the Midlands won the Democratic nomination.

The winner of the Republican runoff will go up against state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in November.

Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson were the top two vote-getters in the five-way Republican gubernatorial primary. When The Associated Press called the race about 9 p.m., Evette led with 29% of the vote to Wilson’s 26% respectively.

In South Carolina, a candidate needs more than half of the votes to avoid a runoff.

Trailing behind were U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, millionaire businessman Rom Reddy, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace.

Evette advanced to the runoff 11 days after President Donald Trump endorsed her bid to replace Gov. Henry McMaster, who endorsed her back in February.

The president reaffirmed his endorsement of the 58-year-old accountant in a Monday night tele-rally.

“She is going to be a great governor to take the place of an already great governor,” Trump told listeners. “You have a great governor. You’re going to have one that’s going to be — I can’t say better — she’ll be as good, because you can’t get better than Henry.”

The race marks Evette’s first as a solo candidate. McMaster picked her in November 2017 ahead of his first election as the state’s CEO. That 2018 race marked the first time in South Carolina that candidates for governor and lieutenant governor ran on a joint ticket.

Originally from Ohio, Evette moved to South Carolina two decades ago. The mother of three was CEO of Quality Business Solutions, an outsourcing payroll and human resources firm operating out of Travelers Rest for clients nationwide.

The last time a lieutenant governor successfully made the leap to the Governor’s Mansion was in 1970, when Democrat John West beat out Republican Congressman Albert Watson.

McMaster was also Wilson’s former boss in the attorney general’s office.

Former assistant attorney general under McMaster, Wilson was first elected the state’s chief prosecutor in 2010, when McMaster made an unsuccessful bid for governor.

Wilson, the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina’s 2nd District, is now the nation’s longest-serving attorney general.

The 52-year-old father of two lives in Lexington. He also served for nearly three decades in the Army National Guard.

In the race for governor, Evette raised a total of $4.5 million for her campaign, including a $1 million personal loan, according to late May filings with the state elections office. Wilson raised $3.2 million.

Both head into the runoff with more than half a million dollars on hand.

On the Democratic side, Johnson, of Hopkins, took the nomination outright with 58% of the vote as of 8:45 p.m.

The Associated Press called the race with 53% of ballots counted.

The win makes Johnson the first Black nominee for governor of South Carolina in 36 years. Before him, it was Democratic state Sen. Theo Mitchell, of Greenville, who in 1990 unsuccessfully challenged then-incumbent Gov. Carroll Campbell.

Billy Webster, an Upstate businessman who worked for former Gov. Dick Riley and in the Clinton administration, followed with 31% of the vote. And Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod came in third with just shy of 11% of the vote.

Johnson first won a seat in the Statehouse in 2020 after ousting, in the Democratic primary, 22-year veteran Rep. Jimmy Bales, a former Richland County Councilman and longtime principal of Lower Richland High School.

Two years later, after the post-census redrawing of voting lines put Johnson in the same House district as fellow Hopkins Democrat Wendy Brawley, he ousted her from the seat she’d held since 2017.

The 40-year-old father of four was born in Los Angeles, where he overcame a host of childhood struggles, including losing his brother to gun violence when Johnson was 5 years old. His family was homeless during Johnson’s teenage years, living in motels.

Then, in 2004, a basketball scholarship brought Johnson to the College of Charleston, where his 1,276 points still rank 21st in program history. He went on to earn a spot in a developmental league for NBA prospects before stints playing professionally in Canada, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil.

After his basketball career, he returned to South Carolina, starting New Economic Beginnings Foundation, a nonprofit aimed to aid troubled children and military veterans.

For the primary, Johnson raised more than $450,000 and has $80,000 on hand, according to late May filings with the state elections office.

It’s been 28 years since voters elected a Democrat as governor. In 1998, then-Rep. Jim Hodges ousted GOP Gov. David Beasley. 

The last time a Democrat won any statewide office in South Carolina was 2006.  

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.