What the kickoff speeches say about the 5 SC GOP governor hopefuls’ campaigns
Five GOP hopefuls seeking to succeed Gov. Henry McMaster have now jumped into the 2026 race. And with each campaign launch came an initial speech that sets a vision and direction for their campaigns.
Candidates often spend months considering runs to craft their message before a formal campaign launch.
“The first words that any candidate puts out there sets the tone of the campaign, and you can see where the mindset is that they’re bringing to the race,” said Dave Wilson, a South Carolina Republican political consultant not working for any campaign this cycle. “What are the key things that they’re wanting to get across, and quite often, it is the tone setter for everything else that’s going to be moving forward on that campaign.”
The State newspaper examined the campaign kickoff speeches of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman and Attorney General Alan Wilson to see what their key themes are.
As expected, the terms “South Carolina,” “conservative,” governor”, and “government” were among the most repeated terms in each of the speeches.
“When you look at a campaign speech, especially the initial one, you’re wanting to see where are you going with this campaign? How are you going to be setting your tone, your direction, the mission of what you’re setting out to accomplish,” Dave Wilson said.
The initial speeches had similar policy goals of eliminating the state income tax, pushing for school choice, fighting illegal immigration and making the state government more efficient.
Trump gets shoutouts
Evette mentioned President Donald Trump’s name 14 times in her remarks
“When President Trump launched his 2024 campaign here in South Carolina, I was one of the only leaders standing beside him. Not after the primaries. Not after the polls looked good. But from the very beginning,” Evette said.
Receiving Trump’s endorsement in the race can be the key to winning the GOP nomination. The president remains popular in South Carolina. He carried the state in the general election three times and won the 2024 South Carolina GOP presidential primary by 20 points.
“She’s trying to wrap herself in that flag, because at this moment, I think her campaign really thinks that Donald Trump is her entrée into a group of voters in South Carolina, some of whom are relatively new to the political scene,” Dave Wilson said. “We identified back in, after the 2016 election, those voters in South Carolina who appeared to be Trump voters based upon the fact that they had not really participated in elections beforehand.”
Mace, who has been a vocal Trump supporter in recent years, did not say Trump’s name in her kickoff speech, but featured him in a launch video posted on her campaign website.
“I want to make sure that every municipality, every town, every county, every congressional office, that we’re all working together to make sure we get all the resources we need in South Carolina for everything, and we’ve been very effective at it, and with Trump as president, it’s going to be very important that we have a governor who has a great relationship with the President, like I do,” Mace told reporters after her campaign kickoff.
Alan Wilson also only mentioned Trump twice in his kickoff remarks, while also pointing out he supported the president during his criminal trial in New York.
“When the radical left across the country sought to weaponize the legal system and target President Trump because he was a political threat, we fought back,” Alan Wilson said. “I proudly sat behind President Trump in the courthouse and fought with him every way I could. He’s had our backs. And I’ve got his.”
Norman only said Trump once in his kickoff speech, but commented on the crowd size being like a “Trump rally.” The first day of his campaign also included rolling out endorsements from former U.S. Sen. Jim Demint and S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the last GOP candidate challenging Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. “Ralph Norman is likely looking at this scenario and going, ‘I want to find those voters in South Carolina who are Republican, but are not necessarily Trump Republicans,’ and there’s a difference between those,” Dave Wilson said. “I think he is trying to distinguish himself, to catch that sliver of voters in South Carolina who are your core kind of old guard Republicans, who are Republican in philosophy, but not necessarily Trump Republicans.”
Kimbrell never mentioned Trump in his 39-minute remarks. Instead he name dropped another 2024 GOP presidential candidate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Ron DeSantis, I consider him a friend,” Kimbrell said while talking about his plan to eliminate the state income tax. “So I told the governor. I said, ‘my job’s gonna out-Ron DeSantis, Ron DeSantis.’ ”
Dave Wilson said that is nod to a new kind of Republican.
“His reference to DeSantis is the type of leadership at a state level that makes changes and brings new, fresh ideas to the table,” Dave Wilson said. “They’re Republicans, but they’re the new guard Republicans.”
How did they differentiate themselves?
In a race where policy goals will be very similar, the five GOP hopefuls did try to differentiate themselves through their styles, personal life experience, or approaches to governing.
Mace repeated the phrase “hold the line” eight times in her prepared remarks, including six times in the latter half of her speech as part of a rhetorical technique as she portrays herself as a fighter.
She even titled the speech “Hold the Line.”
“I will hold the line on taxes — by giving the state a plan to cut taxes down to 0% over the next five years, because the fastest way to kill your freedom is to tax it,” Mace said. “I will hold the line on illegal immigration — by defunding officials who defy the law and promote sanctuary policies.”
Alan Wilson, during his remarks, shared a story from August 2004 when he was serving in the Iraq War. An improvised explosive device detonated outside of his Humvee in a convoy he commanded. Soldiers in the convey had pulled drivers out from a burning tractor trailer without needing to be ordered.
“It reminds me not to take for granted the life I have been blessed with since that fateful day. Every big decision I have made over the last twenty years has in some way been influenced by that life-changing event,” Wilson said.
Norman spoke about being a “proud member of the House Freedom Caucus” and how he’s pushed to make the federal budget more conservative.
“Some say I’ve earned a reputation for being uncompromising — always trying to make a bill more conservative. Well folks, I’ll take that as a compliment, and I am proud of it,” Norman said. “When it comes to defending South Carolina values and protecting your hard-earned tax dollars, I drive a hard bargain. And I won’t apologize for it.”
Kimbrell said he wants to avoid the nastiness that often occurs on the campaign trail as candidates battle for support.
“That is beneath the dignity of this state to watch each other rip each other to shreds,” Kimbrell said. “I’m running for South Carolina, not because I dislike anybody else.”
Evette portrayed herself as a businesswoman who worked alongside McMaster in governing and would be ready from the start of the next term.
“Gov. McMaster trusted me from day one to be more than a ceremonial lieutenant governor. He made me his partner in governance. He empowered me to focus on critical issues that impact businesses and families,” Evette said.
Other key themes the speeches had
Alan Wilson, who was the first to hold a campaign kickoff event, called for eliminating the state income tax, a move pushed by several of the hopefuls.
“As governor, we’ll deliver meaningful relief to hardworking people – we’re going to finally eliminate the state income tax,” Wilson said.
Evette, Norman and Wilson each used the term “DOGE” as an effort to shrink the size of state government.
“And as your governor, I want to make South Carolina’s government accountable to the taxpayers,” Norman said. “We can do this by implementing a DOGE Commission for South Carolina to root out waste, fraud and abuse. We can cut millions in wasteful spending.”
Evette and Kimbrell touched on reducing regulations
“We’ll sunset useless and outdated regulations that give too much power to bureaucrats, and for every new regulation proposed, we will get rid of ten,” Evette said when speaking about DOGE efforts.
Kimbrell didn’t say DOGE in his remarks, but spoke about the need to remove outdated regulations from the state’s books.
“There is no reason a regulation of 80 years old that has no relevance to modern life should still be on the books,” Kimbrell said.
Mace spoke about crime as a subtle dig at Alan Wilson.
“If you’re a solicitor and you aren’t prosecuting crime, watch out because I’m coming for you. This culture of coddling criminals and punishing victims is over,” Mace said.
Themes from a candidate’s kickoff will often be repeated in stump speeches from campaign stop to campaign stop, but those remarks may well be adjusted as the election draws closer and candidates react to developments in the news cycle.
But the first speech is often reveals how they’ll be pitching their campaigns to voters and donors.
“You hope that the candidate writes the speech to begin with, but so often it is someone within the campaign who’s looking at, how do we message this appropriately?” Wilson said. “You hope that the heart of the campaign is what the candidate is wanting to be able to do, and not just what the consultants say needs to be the message.”
