Pascoe endorses once-rival Solicitor David Stumbo in SC attorney general’s race

David Pascoe, who ran third in Tuesday’s Republican attorney general primary race, endorsed second-place and fellow solicitor David Stumbo.

“I am voting for David Stumbo for Attorney General. He is the ONLY real prosecutor and conservative left in the Attorney General’s race. I urge my supporters to do the same. Our state cannot afford for you to sit out on the upcoming election!!” Pascoe, 59, wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

Stumbo, 50, will face state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, 44, R-Georgetown, in the June 23 Republican primary runoff.

Goldfinch said later Thursday he has already picked up some Pascoe supporters.

“I want his supporters, but I don’t want David Pascoe. I never did, and I don’t think South Carolina wanted David Pascoe,” said Goldfinch, noting that Pascoe until last year had been a longtime Democrat.

In an interview, Pascoe said he had gotten more than 100 calls and texts from his supporters thanking him for making a recommendation about the upcoming primary runoff. “They were going to stay home,” Pascoe said.

“The attorney general’s post is too important for on-the-job training,” said Pascoe, First Judicial Circuit solicitor — elected prosecutor — for Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties.

Goldfinch, a private attorney and state senator, has been a military prosecutor, but that is different from the heavy volume and variety of criminal prosecutions that a solicitor’s office handles.

Pascoe’s supporters in Tuesday’s race were numerous enough so that if enough of them were to vote for Stumbo, Stumbo could beat Goldfinch, the frontrunner.

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

Stumbo was not immediately available for comment.

Stumbo, who is based in Greenwood County, is the elected solicitor of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, which also includes Abbeville, Newberry and Laurens counties.

The attorney general is the chief prosecutor in South Carolina. His office is also the source of contracts given out to private lawyers. The job pays $208,000 a year.