Campaign quips will turn to verbal elbows as SC GOP governor primary heats up
Even before hopefuls officially kicked off their campaigns, the sniping in the race for the Republican nomination for governor began with U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace accusing Attorney General Alan Wilson of not prosecuting a case involving her ex-fiancé. Wilson said the case has never been sent to his office.
Since then, the over-the-top jabs have been occasional. Political observers have felt the state’s reputation of politics being a blood sport has yet to come to fruition. But much of the chirping has taken place behind the scenes.
Filing for governor and all other November elections opened Monday runs through noon March 30. By the end of filing, six GOP hopefuls, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, businessman Rom Reddy and Wilson, are expected to have filed their paperwork to appear on the ballot for the Republican nomination for governor.
And political observers expect the battle to become nasty leading into the June primary, particularly on the Republican side where whoever wins the GOP nomination in a reliably red state may guarantee themselves a job for eight years.
“This has the potential to get very acrimonious,” said Scott Huffmon, the director of the Winthrop University Poll. “We’ve already seen some pretty heavy opening salvos between Nancy Mace, Alan Wilson and Pamela Evette, so they have really taken to the airwaves and social media taking pot shots at each other, some very serious, some less so. That in itself before the filing deadline gives us an idea of how serious it may be.”
Polling has shown roughly a quarter to one third of the GOP electorate is undecided on who they will support in the primary. With six announced candidates, and no clear frontrunner, a runoff between the two top vote getters in the June 9 primary is a likely scenario.
And if polling shows the race is close, expect the hopefuls to go harder at each other.
“I don’t know that I look forward to it, but it does bring out the best and the worst in the candidates, and sometimes you see the things you didn’t see before,” said Sherry Roche, who is a member of the Simpsonville City Council, ahead of a recent candidate forum in Greenville. “It’s gonna be hard to hold their cool all the way through.”
Mace has been criticized for her treatment of officers at the Charleston Airport in October. Some Evette consultants have publicly questioned why Mace was initially listed in the Epstein files. Mace’s campaign has said she was falsely named in an anonymous email.
Evette has been accused of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion in her business. Norman has been hit with supporting Silfab Solar.
Reddy on Wednesday announced he would not participate in the S.C. GOP’s debate series.
“I’m not going to be participating in some made for TV game with the ruling class. The clowns can have their circus,” Reddy said.
But previous elections have seen much uglier accusations. In 2010, Nikki Haley was accused of having an affair, which she denied. The accusation ultimately did not keep her out of the governor’s mansion.
Wilson has tried to keep his remarks positive leaving the attacks to his staff.
“To the folks, the other folks running for governor, we’re not enemies, we’re competitors,” Wilson said during a recent forum in the Upstate. “There’s a big difference, and we need to remember that for this primary season.”
His campaign, however, has called the lieutenant governor the “chief ribbon cutter.”
Norman during a recent news conference said he expected attacks as prediction markets saw his stock rise.
“I don’t care what they do. I expect it, and it’s a sad day. But you know, evil triumphs when good people stay out. That ain’t gonna happen with me,” Norman said.
The expected mudslinging may work on low-information voters, said Cheryl Cuthrell, the president of the Upstate Republican Women’s Club.
“It works on what we call low-information voters that don’t follow politics like (how) we follow,” Cutthrell said. “I know what’s true and what’s false on most of this stuff, but the undecided public, they don’t know.”
For Roche, voter apathy encourages the mudslinging.
“I think the dirt is all that matters. I think that voter apathy from even the municipal level, that I’m at, all the way through. I think the American voters, and I hate saying this, but it’s true, is so apathetic that they don’t really do homework to get to know the actual candidate,” Roche said.
Ben Kinlaw, 77, of Barnwell, said he’d prefer a clean campaign, but he knows information, right or wrong, will be posted on social media about the candidates.
“You would like to think people stay on issues,” said Kinlaw, who is supporting Evette in the campaign.
Jack Stott, who ran for the House in a special election, said the recent forum in Greenville was civil between the candidates, but he’s expecting the mudslinging in April and May.
“We’ll start seeing the attack ads come out,” Stott said. “That’s just politics, but as Republicans, we got to elect our candidate, and make sure that we have the right one in the case of a decent Democrat running.”
“I’m expecting it to be kind of a dog fight,” Stott added.
Stott says some of the attacks may resonate.
“I think somewhat happens is people pay attention to it for about 15 minutes, and then they’re like, let me move on to the next thing,” Stott said. “I think if it’s something very serious, they’ll consider it. It’s, we just live in a day and age now where it’s all identity politics, and it’s always somebody throwing dirt on somebody, and there’s no civility.”
Cutthrell said the mudslinging does work for some voters.
The hits may work, but insiders may not enjoy what they expect to see from the campaign trail.
“I’ve known each one of these people for so many years,” Cutthrell said. “It breaks my heart that it’s going to get dirty. I want them just to tell me what they’re going to do. They’re all great candidates. We’re going to have a great governor, but there’s no sense in lying and dirt throwing, and I just don’t like that part of it.”
