Alan Wilson heads to 4th term as SC’s top prosecutor after GOP win over Bluffton attorney

Incumbent Alan Wilson easily won the South Carolina Republican nomination for attorney general Tuesday night, advancing him to the general election where he faces no challenger.

Unofficial election results showed Wilson ahead of his primary opponent, Lauren Martel, 55, with nearly 66% of the vote. The State Election Commission will certify results Friday.

Martel is a Bluffton attorney who campaigned on fighting corruption, fighting against vaccine mandates and protecting South Carolina from “government overreach.”

“We’re proud, and not surprised, Attorney General Alan Wilson won the Republican primary,” state Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said in a statement. “And thanks to the lack of Democrat engagement and support, no Democrat candidate filed against him. So congratulations Attorney General Alan Wilson on your reelection! He is a stalwart defender of the rule of law and makes our Party and state proud.”

Wilson, 48, was first elected in 2010 and is seeking a fourth four-year term for the state’s chief legal and law enforcement office.

He is the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale.

No Democrats are running for the attorney general’s office, so Tuesday’s GOP primary results all but assure Wilson will win the November election and another term in office.

Four Democratic lawyers had expressed interest in running for attorney general this year, but the annual pay — $92,007 — meant they would have had to take a big cut from their current salaries, said Trav Robertson, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

“They have to put children through college in the next couple of years, and they were concerned about providing an education for their kids if they took the attorney general’s job,” Robertson said.

In the last 12 years, Wilson’s record has included vigorous outreaches to crime victims and high-profile prosecutions of human traffickers, child molesters and those who commit domestic violence. He was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Aside from that outreach, Wilson also has used his office to mount or join high-profile conservative and libertarian lawsuits.

They’ve included fighting for more restrictive abortion laws, litigating against gay marriage and contesting the authority of the University of South Carolina president to order that masks be worn inside university buildings at a time when the highly contagious COVID-19 virus was raging through the state and nation.

In 2020, Wilson also signed onto a legal brief by the Texas attorney general asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear challenges to the presidential vote count in four battleground states where President Joe Biden won the popular vote. The Supreme Court declined to hear the matter.

That same year, Wilson approved an opinion from his office that said part of a state law requiring a supermajority, or two-thirds, vote in the General Assembly to move or change historic monuments or statues was unconstitutional. The main purpose of the 2000 law, called the Heritage Act, was to protect Confederate era-related monuments and the Confederate flag, then located in front of the State House, from being altered or moved.

Last year, the S.C. Supreme Court in a unanimous decision sided with Wilson and ruled the supermajority portion of the Heritage Act unconstitutional.

Recently, Wilson has engaged in high-profile legal matters.

For example, the state Supreme Court is currently mulling whether his office should have approved a direct $75 million fee payment to two private law firms for their work in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s storage of highly radioactive plutonium at the Savannah River Site. The lawsuit helped result in a $600 million settlement for the state.

Wilson’s office also is currently engaged in one of the state’s largest white collar criminal cases in years. A state grand jury under Wilson’s direction has returned numerous indictments for alleged financial and money laundering crimes against suspended Hampton attorney Alex Murdaugh.

The Attorney General’s office will operate on a $110 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. That budget includes $60 million in federal money and $23.5 million in state dollars. Its 286-person staff includes 84 attorneys, 24 investigators and various interns and law clerks.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 9:03 PM.