Goldfinch, Stumbo secure place in GOP runoff for SC attorney general

State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown, and Eighth Judicial Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo are headed into a runoff on June 23 for the post of state attorney general.

The Associated Press called the race around 9:30 pm. Early returns around that time gave Goldfinch 41 percent of the vote and Stumbo 34 percent. A candidate needed 50 percent plus one to win the nomination outright, according to the S.C. Election Commission.

In third place was First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, with 23 percent. His messages of fighting corruption and judicial reform failed to catch the imagination of Republican voters.

Perhaps more important, it didn’t help Pascoe that in May, President Donald Trump made a social media post urging state Republicans to choose someone other than Pascoe, saying that Pascoe was a “total fraud” because he had switched last year from being a lifelong Democrat to the GOP.

The exact effect of the president’s posting cannot be measured, but South Carolina voters are known for being fiercely loyal to Trump and for their dislike of Democrats. Trump’s calling Pascoe a “fraud” had a touch of irony in it, because Pascoe as a prosecutor has convicted fraudsters, while Trump himself was convicted in New York in 2024 in a jury trial for falsifying business records. Trump is appealing the verdict.

In a brief interview late Tuesday night, Stumbo said, “We are relieved we have got over this hurdle and are ready to take on the next one. We will be fighting like crazy. I think we have a real good shot at winning this runoff.”

Goldfinch said, “I feel good. I feel strong. Last I looked, we were 23,000 votes ahead. I look forward to getting back on the trail for the next two weeks. We’ve got campaign stops planned already every day.”

Stumbo had spent the day courting voters in Greenville and Spartanburg, two Republican vote-rich Upstate enclaves. Stumbo is from Greenwood County in the inland western part of the state and considered part of the Upstate, being about 50 miles south of Greenville.

Goldfinch spent Tuesday traveling his home counties of Georgetown and Horry. The coastal Horry (pronounced OH-ree) with Myrtle Beach is a GOP stronghold and along with Greenville County is one of the state’s most populous counties.

Pascoe, who had been attacked on the campaign trail by Goldfinch for being a closet Democrat, said he will be considering asking his voters to cast their votes possibly for Stumbo. In any case, Pascoe said there is “no chance” he will endorse Goldfinch because Goldfinch is “part of the lawyer-legislator cabal of Columbia.”

Goldfinch retorted, “I’m glad he won’t endorse me. I would not want the endorsement of David Pascoe nor any of his Democrat friends.”

The statewide race was the first really competitive race for the attorney general’s office in years. The current attorney general, Alan Wilson, was elected in 2010 and is running for governor this year after winning four four-year terms.

All three contenders — Goldfinch, Pascoe and Stumbo — were considered qualified to hold the office of attorney general, who is the state’s chief legal officer representing state agencies in various legal situations. One of the office’s highest profile jobs is overseeing the state grand jury in criminal prosecutions.

It was the attorney general’s office that supervised the state prosecutions of white collar crimes and murder charges against Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh’s double murder conviction was recently overturned, and it will likely be up to the new attorney general to make decisions about a retrial.

Pascoe, 59, from Orangeburg County, and Stumbo, 50, are both elected solicitors, or chief prosecutors, in their region of the state. They each run offices stocked with prosecutors who are in court on a daily basis trying cases, negotiating plea deals, picking juries or handling guilty pleas. Each has decades of experience prosecuting all kinds of cases.

Pascoe had tooted his record of advocating reforms in the way the state picks its judges and prosecuting corruption in the Legislature, while Stumbo stressed how he and his office had tackled all kinds of crimes. Both said they would be ready run the attorney general’s office from the outset.

Goldfinch, 44, also stressed his prosecutorial chops — but he has done his prosecuting as a military lawyer in court settings that aren’t readily available to the press and public. More than the other two, Goldfinch also emphasized his dislike of government regulations.

In a recent ETV debate, the candidates had different stances on the legalization of so-called “medical marijuana.”

While Stumbo said he is not in favor of making medical marijuana available in South Carolina and noted there is no standard for impaired driving by marijuana, Pascoe said benefits of medical marijuana for children with seizures and cancer patients are known, and its medical uses should be studied.

Pascoe said he favors tight controls on who is able to get the drug, should it become legal.

Goldfinch said making marijuana legal in South Carolina “is a moot point” because marijuana products are freely sold in South Carolina nowadays. “Everybody is using the stuff, and it’s a real problem. ... It needs to be regulated.”

Pascoe issued this statement: “Tonight I thank the thousands of supporters who stood with our campaign and cause. Together, we built a movement of principled conservatives who challenged South Carolina’s good ole boy political establishment in a way it has never been challenged.”

”While we came up short, we succeeded in shining a light on the need for judicial reform, accountability and an end to the culture of corruption that for too long has protected the powerful at the expense of the people,” Pascoe wrote.

Blaming “dark money” and “entrenched special interests” for his defeat Pascoe said, “The fight for honest government does not end tonight.”

Turnout determined results

Final returns Wednesday morning, with all votes counted, gave Goldfinch 39.9 percent; Stumbo, 35.6 percent; and Pascoe 24.3 percent, according to the Election Commission.

In all, Goldfinch had 175,921 votes; Stumbo, 156,876 votes; and Pascoe, 107,086 votes.

Horry County had proved to be Goldfinch’s mother lode. There, he won 25,412 votes, or 66 percent. Stumbo won 6,472 votes, and Pascoe, 6,446, or 16 percent each, according to the Election Commission.

Stumbo’s strongest county was Greenville, the state’s most populous. There, Stumbo won 26,131, or 48 percent of the vote, according to the Election Commission. Goldfinch placed second, winning 16,841 votes and 31 percent. Pascoe garnered 10,847, or 20 percent.

This story will be updated

This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 6:30 AM.