SC primary sends governor's race, other key contests to runoffs. What to know

South Carolina’s 2026 primary election sent the marquee race for governor and several other major contests to June 23 runoffs after no candidate cleared 50%. Democrats picked their nominees outright for governor, U.S. Senate and state superintendent, setting up a November test of whether the party can break a statewide losing streak.

Here are key takeaways:

• Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson advanced to the June 23 GOP runoff for governor, with Evette taking 28.86% and Wilson 26.15%, knocking out U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman and businessman Rom Reddy.
• State Rep. Jermaine Johnson of Hopkins won the Democratic nomination for governor outright with 59.65% of the vote, defeating self-funded candidates Billy Webster and Mullins McLeod despite having the least campaign cash.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham clinched the GOP Senate nomination with 58.6%, avoiding a runoff against five challengers, and will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician who won her primary with 61%.
• State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch and Solicitor David Stumbo are headed to a runoff for attorney general, with Goldfinch at 39.9% and Stumbo at 35.6%, after Solicitor David Pascoe finished third with 24.3%.
• Sylvia Wright defeated Lisa Ellis by 22 points in the Democratic primary for state superintendent and will challenge Republican incumbent Ellen Weaver in a race Democrats see as their best chance to flip a statewide office.
• The race to replace U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in the 1st Congressional District is also headed to runoffs, with state Rep. Mark Smith and Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt advancing on the GOP side and military veterans Mac Deford and Nancy Lacore on the Democratic side.
• Freshman state Rep. Luke Rankin, R-Laurens, lost his reelection bid by about 20 points to Rick Shealy after sponsoring the failed Trump-backed congressional redistricting map that would have made all seven of the state’s districts reliably Republican.
• U.S. Reps. Jim Clyburn and Joe Wilson easily won their primaries, with Clyburn taking 93% in the 6th District and Wilson taking 76% in the 2nd District, weeks after a redistricting effort that would have put them in the same district was killed.
• Democrat Malcolm Taylor won the primary to replace Johnson in state House District 52 with 61.74%, while Hunter Hackett and Scotty Whetstone advanced to a runoff in District 96 to replace former state Rep. Ryan McCabe.
• Early voting hit a record 330,500 turnout, and last-minute voters rushed to the polls, including 77-year-old Columbia attorney Jay Elliot, who cast his ballot at 6:48 p.m., while one Columbia man arrived after the 7 p.m. cutoff and was turned away.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.