Future campaigns aren’t underway yet. But where could presidential candidates visit in SC?
President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House for a second term means the 2028 presidential race is set to be an open primary on both sides of the aisle.
Because South Carolina kicks off the Democratic nominating process and is the First in the South contest for Republicans, potential hopefuls will find their way to the Palmetto State before the 2028 campaigns kickoff.
Public appearances on the Democratic side may start sooner as the GOP will control the White House and both chambers in Congress.
Potential Republican White House hopefuls may still make moves.
For the Republicans, Vice President-elect JD Vance will most likely be the early GOP front-runner and potential heir to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
But that doesn’t mean he’ll easily waltz to the nomination. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the last Republican standing before ceding the 2024 nomination to Trump this year, may look to make another run for the White House.
She endorsed Trump’s bid at the Republican National Convention and said she was ready and willing to campaign for Trump. But a call never came.
This fall she started Nikki Haley Live on SiriusXM allowing her to stay in the public eye in the lead up to the election. She is slated to continue the show through the inauguration.
But Haley appeared to be cautioning against a possible Trump loss, saying that Trump needed to do a better job of reaching out to women and to stop with the “bromance and masculinity stuff.”
“This bromance and masculinity stuff, it borders on edgy to the point that it’s going to make women uncomfortable,” Haley said on Fox News in October.
But after Trump’s election victory, Haley was complimentary of the future president.
“You got to give credit to Donald Trump. He literally defied gravity,” Haley said the day after the election, pointing to his popular vote victory and Republicans winning control of House and Senate. “He got through two assassination attempts, he got through two impeachments. He got through numerous indictments, and America still elected him, because at the end of the day, they knew what they were getting with Donald Trump, and that’s what they wanted to see.”
Haley also has recently expressed concern about some of Trump’s cabinet picks.
Haley’s Stand for America PAC also contributed $5,000 during the 2024 cycle to state lawmakers’ campaign who had backed her presidential bid.
Also Haley continues to tout her foreign policy chops. She is on the Hudson Institute and recently visited the United Kingdom.
Who else might jump in? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A political action committee aligned with DeSantis donated $23,000 to campaigns in South Carolina during for the 2024 campaign.
After dropping out of the 2024 race, DeSantis returned to South Carolina in February where he met with a handful of state lawmakers to talk about congressional term limits. He sidestepped questions about 2028.
“When I was running, I said, I would use the bully pulpit to help do this. Well, now that we’re here where we are, I’ve told folks that are supportive of the term limits movement, put me in,” DeSantis told reporters. “If there’s a way I can be helpful, if it’s me going and speaking to different folks throughout the country that are in state legislative chambers, I’m happy to do it.”
Other names will pop up, or at least may start to put out feelers. What to look out for is who shows up before the 2028 cycle begins in the Palmetto State, which holds the First in the South Republican presidential primary.
After the 2020 election was over, the campaign was unofficially underway for 2024 early on. Former Vice President Mike Pence visited the state in 2021 to speak at the Palmetto Family Council Dinner in April 2021.
Anyone wanting to run for president will most likely launch their campaign in 2027, which means probably making trips to early primary states in 2026 or sooner.
On the Republican side, 2025 may be too soon for out-of-state candidates to start making visits as they may not want to immediately step on the toes of the incoming administration, said Justin Hall, the director of communications for the Palmetto Family Council, a group that often holds events for potential candidates to speak to conservative voters.
So, some of the traditional events Republicans go to meet with primary voters, donors and volunteers might be headlined by potential or even declared candidates for governor.
“We are looking to make sure South Carolina’s family first values are at the forefront of candidates as they make swings through South Carolina,” Hall said.
“We’re ready to hit the ground running as we need to,” Hall added.
As the 2026 primary heats up in the governor’s race, don’t be surprised if a potential presidential candidate swings by the state to stump for someone running to be South Carolina’s top executive, Hall said.
Republicans also hold their convention to pick party leadership for the next two years in May, and hold their annual Silver Elephant Gala in August.
Democratic hopefuls may come early
On the Democratic side, as President Joe Biden planned to run for reelection before he stepped aside, potential 2028 candidates visited South Carolina to try to energize voters.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Carolina three times leading up to the Feb. 3 First in the Nation Democratic presidential primary.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom worked with the South Carolina Democratic Party to promote the party’s First in the Nation primary in February.
California U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna has been making visits to the state including one in September to Orangeburg for a Silicon Valley HBCU Tech Summit.
U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, spoke at the state party’s Democratic Party weekend and at U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s fish fry.
Now that Democrats are out of power, and with South Carolina’s First in the Nation status, the state will have several opportunities for potential candidates to make appearances. The field of Democratic potential candidates could also include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, among others.
One place to see a potential hopeful is the annual King Day at the Dome, an event that has attracted presidential hopefuls in the early primary state. It’s an opportunity to speak to Black voters, a traditional Democratic voting bloc, which saw a shift toward Trump in 2024.
Even though Trump will be inaugurated on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on Jan. 20 this year, the NAACP Conference of South Carolina says it will hold its annual King Day the Dome.
NAACP President Brenda Murphy declined to give details of potential speakers, but pointed out keynote speakers could be potential 2026 or 2028 candidates.
As for who will be the first to show up, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain wouldn’t venture a guess.
“I don’t even have a thought in my head at the moment, who would be first, but we’ll take them,” Spain said the day after the 2024 election.
Jay Parmley, the executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said the party will have several opportunities for potential candidates to show up and meet South Carolina Democrats.
The South Carolina Democratic Convention is in May, and in the fall the party plans to hold its Spratt Issues Conference.
Potential candidates also will find ways to meet with voters on their own, outside of the structured party events.
“I think they will be methodical,” Parmley said. “Our job is to provide structured opportunities for people to come.”
