AG Alan Wilson declared SC’s GOP nominee for governor

COLUMBIA – Attorney General Alan Wilson took a major step toward becoming South Carolina’s chief executive Tuesday, handily winning the runoff for the Republican nomination for governor over Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

When The Associated Press called the race at 7:27 p.m., Wilson had 65% of the vote. Only 8% of the vote had been counted less than a half hour after polls closed.

His winning margin only grew: more than 37 percentage points when all votes were counted, according to unofficial state Election Commission results.

The lopsided win came four days after President Donald Trump made a dual endorsement, ensuring he couldn’t lose.

Even supporters at Wilson’s election night party were surprised by how quickly the race was called. The first round of cheers came nearly 15 minutes after it was declared over.

Wilson will face Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Hopkins, in the November general election. But it’s been 28 years since South Carolina sent a Democrat to the Governor’s Mansion.

In the first wide-open race for governor in 16 years, Wilson emerged the victor among six Republicans heading into the June 9 primary, though state Sen. Josh Kimbrell’s withdrawal days earlier officially made it a five-way race.

Evette called Wilson by 8:30 p.m. to concede and congratulate him.

“I won’t pretend that I’m not disappointed. Because I am,” Evette, visibly moved by the loss, told dejected supporters in a room at Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. “This race wasn’t about me. It never has been. It’s been about you.”

Both Evette and Wilson, who took the stage in Columbia after she called him, called for unity among Republicans following a bruising primary.

“We need to unify. We can’t focus on what divides us. We have to focus on what unites us. That’s what’s important,” Wilson said.

He applauded Evette for “throwing her name into the ring,” and said she “faithfully served Gov. McMaster and the state of South Carolina.”

Supporters he addressed inside a Columbia hotel blocks from the Statehouse included Kimbrell, his former opponent.

“I expected he was going to win tonight. I thought that the end of the Evette campaign was kind of a litany of disaster,” the Spartanburg County Republican told the SC Daily Gazette. “I just don’t think she really had a message.”

Wilson, who’s ending his fourth term as the state’s chief prosecutor, publicly launched his campaign exactly a year ago. But he’s arguably been gearing up for a gubernatorial bid for years. 

Still, victory was no sure thing.

Even before the race officially began, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace sought to discredit Wilson with frequent, fiery accusations he had to keep denying. Then, as Evette sought to gain ground, she went after Wilson as a “career politician” and accused him of being disloyal to Trump.

Her attack ads intensified after Trump gave Evette his “complete and total endorsement” on May 29, propelling her 11 days later to a first-place finish in the primary’s first round.

But it wasn’t a runaway. Evette led with 29% of the vote to Wilson’s 26%.

That’s partly because Trump, in his endorsement, suggested that Henry McMaster Jr. would be her running mate, bringing accusations of nepotism and a backroom deal, which the governor denied. Evette largely stayed silent until his son announced on social media that he would not join her ticket.

Then last Friday, Trump took away Evette’s primary argument by adding Wilson to his endorsement, telling voters they “can’t go wrong” with voting for either of them. Wilson couldn’t be in the “Never Trumper” camp, as Evette alleged, with Trump’s endorsement.

Once hungry for Trump nod, Evette and Wilson downplay it when forced to share

The rare dual endorsement from a president who doesn’t like to lose bolstered Wilson.

Trump’s endorsement back-and-forth was “strange,” said Beth Carter, a 59-year-old employee at a hospital near Florence, after casting her ballot on Tuesday.

“That didn’t sway me even though I did vote for President Trump,” she said. Carter decided to vote for Wilson before the endorsement, citing his strong Christian faith.

Wilson gained the support of three of their former opponents — including Mace, who ultimately called the prosecutor she spent months bashing the law-and-order candidate.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman announced his endorsement of Wilson one day before the state GOP runoff debate — only the second of the party’s four Evette agreed to participate in. With Norman’s backing, Wilson picked up support from the uber-conservative, Freedom Caucus side of the GOP spectrum.

Evette tried to bring some of those voters into her camp by releasing a list of potential running mates, who included Norman’s running mate — the founding chair of the Freedom Caucus in the state House — as well as the caucus’ current chair. But that announcement too hit a snag when both hardline legislators told reporters they were surprised to be among her nine potential, wide-ranging picks.

Evette’s defeat continued the state’s historic trend of lieutenant governors unable to make the leap to governor.

The one exception in the last 56 years was Henry McMaster, who ascended into the office in 2017 when then-Gov. Nikki Haley joined the first Trump administration. McMaster was the incumbent when voters elected him to the role in 2018.

In her first-ever solo run, Evette branded herself as an outsider businesswoman while simultaneously touting her Statehouse experience over eight years — even taking credit for laws as signed “by the McMaster-Evette administration.” But she tied her campaign to her relationship with Trump, constantly referencing the president until his surprise co-endorsement.

Trump’s backing, if brief in exclusivity, was powerful for a chunk of the state’s GOP voters.

“I mean we just went with the first one that he chose, which was Pamela,” Bill Cogley, a 55-year-old Baptist pastor from Quimby, a Florence suburb, said after voting with his family.

Wilson, a 52-year-old Army veteran who worked in the state attorney general’s office under McMaster before voters elected him to head the agency in 2010, had long eyed a bid for governor.

The attorney general worked for years to build relationships with the state Republican Party’s grassroots, regularly visiting county GOP groups, while showing a willingness to buck the Legislature with calls for changing how the state elects judges. 

Wilson, the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, has regularly touted his leadership on culture war issues.

He’s gone to court repeatedly over his tenure to combat the Obama and Biden administrations and support the Trump administration. Last year alone, Wilson’s office announced joining other Republicans or declared victory on more than 60 multi-state lawsuits.

His defense of Trump included traveling to New York City in 2024 to support the president as he faced charges of falsifying business records in paying an adult film star.

“He’s done a pretty good job as attorney general,” Dean Longenecker said after casting a ballot for Wilson at an elementary school in Elgin. “I don’t agree with all the decisions, but he’s always looked out for the best interests of South Carolina.”

The 59-year-old factory worker recalled watching Alex Murdaugh’s trial two years ago and singled out the moment Wilson personally conducted the direct examination of a prosecution witness.

“That was probably the biggest thing right there,” Longenecker said. “He proved himself. He’s not just Joe’s kid.”

The trial ended with a double murder conviction, though the state Supreme Court overturned that last month, citing interference by the court clerk. Wilson immediately vowed that his office would retry the case.