A battle for Trump’s endorsement. How the 2026 SC governor’s race is playing out
The 2026 GOP race for the governor’s office is underway, and probably has been for more than a year, just not officially.
High-profile Republicans including Attorney General Alan Wilson and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace have confirmed they’re considering running to be the state’s top executive, a job which pays $106,000 a year.
When Mace kicked off the unofficial campaign before the campaign last month, she started taking shots at other presumed candidates, including Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Evette has repeatedly declined to discuss her political future for 2026. Former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, who was elected as a Republican before resigning after six months on the job, and ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent, jumped into the race for governor. It was not immediately clear if he would run as a Republican. State Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester, also may jump in the race, and State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, posted Saturday on social media he’s considering a run.
The early attempts to position oneself is taking place because Gov. Henry McMaster is precluded from running for reelection in 2026. It’s the first time since 2010 that the race for governor will be without an incumbent allowing for a wide-open race.
Because South Carolina is a reliably red state, whoever wins the GOP primary would be in the driver’s seat for eight years in the job for governor, as long as he or she doesn’t anger the GOP voting base during a first term.
As the presumed hopefuls jockey for position, they’re trying to to win the backing of one person. President Donald Trump.
The Trump effect
Trump is immensely popular in the Palmetto State. He carried nearly 60% of the vote in the 2024 GOP presidential primary in his race against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Trump’s endorsement could tip the scales in the primary race. Trump stumped for McMaster in 2018 when he won a runoff against John Warren.
“What you’re seeing is not a race for the governor’s office yet,” said Justin Evans, a South Carolina political consultant who’s worked on Trump’s campaigns. “You’re seeing a race for a presidential endorsement. Everybody’s trying to get President Trump’s support.”
Trump is looking for how staunchly people defend him, support his agenda, how loyal they’ve been and even how well they perform on television. The president also is looking at how viable the campaign is, who can win, who can raise money and what team the candidate has hired, Evans said.
Both Mace and Wilson share clips of television appearances on their social media platforms championing the administration’s actions.
“President Trump’s in the news every day, all day, and anytime they can piggyback off of that to try to boost their own name ID, get their name beside Trump’s in an article, or anytime they can get any earned media or ink is definitely something they’re gonna try to do as much as possible. Because every time they do that is something they don’t have to pay for,” Evans said.
Mace’s efforts against transgender rights appeared to have caught Trump’s attention. She received a recent shout out from Trump during an executive order signing to keep transgender women out of women’s sports.
“Nancy takes it on right from the start,” Trump said Wednesday as he introduced Mace and other members of Congress in attendance.
Evette also attended the White House event and shared photos of her at the executive order signing, but was not formally recognized.
Wilson traveled to Washington Jan. 30 to support U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi during her confirmation hearing. He even traveled in May 2024 to New York during Trump’s trial for payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
But with the potential candidates working so hard now to gain Trump’s attention may not receive an answer, at least publicly for a while, Evans said.
“Based on my experience with him in the team, I can’t imagine he does so in the short term, I think he’ll end up waiting. He’s busy right now,” Evans said, saying Trump just took office for his second term. “He’s a little bit busy on his own priorities.”
Starting this early also is a play to increase their name recognition across the state. It will be especially important in GOP vote rich areas of the Upstate and Horry County.
Mace and Wilson have made visits to county Republican Party events around the state in recent weeks. Evette has been posted on X her support for Trump’s initiatives. Mace hasn’t been shy about making inflammatory comments that will irk Democratic-leaning voters. Wilson joined in lawsuits against the Biden administration and is now touting anti-illegal immigration efforts by Trump.
Although Evans could not share specific polling numbers, he estimated that Mace and Wilson have similar name ID recognition.
“The positions that both the congresswoman and the attorney general have taken, and their name ID being higher, they’re probably going to have closer numbers as far as favorable and unfavorable, which kind of puts them neck and neck,” Evans said. “Then Pamela Evette is probably going to have higher favorables, if I had to guess, because she hasn’t been in a position to take as much controversial stances as the other two.”
The positioning for the governor’s race started in the background early as the president also values loyalty.
Evette was among the first to publicly back Trump in the 2024 election. She stood with Trump at his January 2023 event at the South Carolina State House.
Wilson’s endorsement of Trump was rolled out in September 2023 when Trump campaigned in Summerville.
Mace worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. She also was then critical of Trump after the Jan. 6 capitol riot in 2021. Trump then campaigned against her ahead of the 2022 primaries when he backed Katie Arrington in the First Congressional District. Mace beat off the challenge, and the two were back on the same page when Mace endorsed Trump’s 2024 bid in January 2024 about a month before the South Carolina primary.
Why its still a campaign before the campaign
Standing in front of the Lexington County Republican Party, Wilson answers questions from the group of party activists at the Flight Deck Restaurant.
“I read some comments, maybe by one of your opponents,” West Columbia Councilmember Mike Green said.
“I don’t have any opponents,” Wilson responded, who added in an interview that he’s been focusing on his day job that he hasn’t had time to set a timeline for a decision on 2026.
It’s how Wilson, for the time being, is handling questions about potentially running for governor.
Mace, who has been more forward in her consideration of a run, said her decision could come in the next month or two.
“Right now, I’m talking to different constituencies, different groups, and right now the backing we’re getting interest in this is enormous,” Mace said. “Of course, I want to talk to the Trump team and see where they are in a run for governor. I think that’s a very important conversation to have.”
By not completely ripping off the bandage, potential hopefuls are working toward a couple of goals, which includes shoring up their name recognition around the state.
Not officially jumping in allows the potential hopefuls to test the waters while keeping the option to gracefully stay out of the race.
Once a candidate announces and starts raising money for a campaign, they’ll have to file for paperwork with the State Election Commission.
But raising money shouldn’t be an issue for the highest profile Republicans expected to jump into the race.
“All of the people that you see out there testing the water right now have the ability to raise tremendous amounts of money,” Evans said.
Taking aim at each other’s records
Mace has sought to turn work the attorney general has touted into weaknesses, saying he failed to investigate rape cases, sex trafficking, human trafficking cases and did nothing to combat illegal immigration.
“He has no business even thinking about running for governor and I will take him out,” Mace said. “I will personally make sure that he is never governor of South Carolina.”
During the Obama and Biden administrations, Wilson battled the federal government over immigration law. He defended a South Carolina illegal immigration law during the Obama era. He also opposed the DACA program. Wilson pointed to how joined or weighed-in on 10 lawsuits against the Biden administration and how the federal government handled immigration policy.
Back at the Lexington County GOP meeting, Green pointed to a specific allegation from Mace about Wilson and how he doesn’t prosecute sex offenders or rapists.
Even though Wilson isn’t directly hitting back at Mace, he defends the work done by his office, pointing to the prosecutors in his office who handle human trafficking and sex cases and his work running the Human Trafficking Task Force and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
“For someone just to speak that into existence without getting any verifiable information, you’re basically saying no prosecutors, no law enforcement that work with our agencies are doing anything,” Wilson said. “So I’ve been defensive on behalf of the men and women who committed their lives to going after predators and rapists and pedophiles and so that that was an insult to them.”
Evette, Mace and Wilson have been active on social media touting their support for Trump and his policies and they’ve been making sure to talk up the president’s stances on illegal immigration and applaud Trump’s military moves, supporting his cabinet picks.
“Thank you President Trump for your leadership on securing our borders — signing the Laken Riley Act into law. Only 10 days in and America is already safer and more secure,” Evette posted on X on Jan. 29.
A day earlier she was touting Trump’s efforts to defend the country.
“Under President Trump, our nation is moving from defense to offense. On my travels to Israel, I saw the Iron Dome and how it saves lives — his plan to build one in the U.S. will be a clear sign of strength to both our allies and our enemies,” Evette posted on Jan. 28.
Mace has been going on the attack on Evette and Wilson trying to show them as weak on illegal immigration and not standing up for women.
Mace has been touting her push to defeat the then-Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano in last year’s election. Not facing a challenging reelection, Mace directed energy toward Graziano and handling of undocumented migrants being released from the county jail.
Graziano lost her reelection bid in November by less than 3 percentage points.
“When our lieutenant governor stood silent, when the attorney general did nothing against the illegals who are here, the cartels who are here, the gangs who are here, our state didn’t do anything, and I single-handedly ejected a sanctuary sheriff in Charleston County,” Mace told reporters ahead of a Richland County GOP meeting. “And we need strong leaders who will do that sort of thing.”
Wilson gave credit to the winner’s campaign rather than Mace.
“I don’t know that I would ever say that anybody can single-handedly fire a sheriff,” Wilson said. “I would give a great deal of credit to Sheriff Carl Ritchie and his supporters for the amazing campaign that they ran, a campaign that I supported financially and did an endorsement in.”
On the Monday evening in Lexington County, Wilson foreshadowed his office encouraging sheriffs’ offices to work with federal immigration officers.
The next day in the afternoon, Wilson’s office sent out a release encouraging sheriff’s offices to participate in a federal program to assist the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Earlier the day, Mace posted on X about sanctuary cities and whether Trump could eliminate “sanctuary counties.”
“I’m telling you, he’s like a puppy,” Mace posted, referring to Wilson.
Wilson has opted not to directly engage with Mace.
“I learned a long time ago that people only attack you when you’re relevant, and so I must be incredibly relevant to be attacked for absolutely no reason,” Wilson said.
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
