SC’s McMaster, Evette deny pressure to put governor’s son on ticket amid speculation
Amid speculation he is pushing for his son to be placed on Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s ticket, Gov. Henry McMaster denied any deal or pressure to make Henry D. McMaster Jr. Evette’s running mate.
When President Donald Trump endorsed Evette’s campaign for South Carolina governor, he included a reference to who her running mate might be, the current governor’s son.
It led to blowback in political circles and from other hopefuls in the race for the Republican nomination that McMaster was trying to secure a political future for his son.
“It’s just speculation, and everybody’s entitled their own opinion, but not their own facts. I don’t know where all that’s coming from,” McMaster said after an Evette campaign rally in Aiken County Tuesday, with less than a week before the June 9 primary. “But that’s part of politics.”
Evette also defended the governor, who is in his 10th year in office, calling him a “true statesman.”
“I think you know everybody knows President Trump, that’s not the way President Trump operates. And I feel bad for anybody that feels that desperate, that they’d have to throw that kind of stuff out there,” Evette said.
Attorney General Alan Wilson’s campaign has dogged Evette’s campaign for answers over how McMaster’s son was included in the endorsement announcement, while saying the attorney general respected the president’s decision.
“It’s clear Gov. McMaster was doing everything he could to fight for his family’s legacy and secure his son’s political future,” Wilson posted on social media Saturday. “But I’m running for Governor to fight for your family and our state’s future.”
McMaster defended his son, who has been criticized by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, another Republican hopeful for governor, for explicit social media posts he purportedly made in 2007.
“When we are young and stupid: We’re young and stupid at the college, or maybe a freshman in college I don’t know where all that is coming from,” McMaster said. “I’m very proud of my son. He’s a grown man now. I think he would make a very good candidate for public office.”
The younger McMaster has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
Evette also said she doesn’t know how Trump decided to include the mention of the governor’s son in the endorsement of her campaign.
“He called me before I saw anything drop, but he was very positive. He told me he picked me because I had been with him from the beginning. I was a true conservative,” Evette said. “He’s very politically astute. But I have said since the beginning of this race that I was going to win the primary, and then I would worry about everything that comes after, and I haven’t changed my position.”
Evette dismissed those optics of what people see as a deal between her and the governor, which now would involve the president.
“People say a lot of things, and as the governor said, facts are facts, and you can’t make your feelings facts, and so if everybody sticks with the facts, everybody will be really happy,” Evette said.
