South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has won the Republican nomination to be the state’s next governor, positioning him to take on Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in the general election. Wilson defeated Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the Republican primary runoff after the two candidates advanced from the seven-candidate June 9 primary. With 9% of the vote counted as of Tuesday evening, Wilson won the runoff with 65.8% of the vote, with Evette garnering 34.2%, according to the Associated Press.
Wilson’s win overturns the momentum Evette built in the general primary, in which she was the only Trump-endorsed candidate and had won, defeating Wilson by 2.7% points. Wilson picked up steam after the general primary, picking up endorsements from President Donald Trump and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) and surging to a double-digit polling lead over Evette.
Trump gave a dual endorsement to both Wilson and Evette in the runoff election after only endorsing Evette in the general primary, saying, “With either one you can’t go wrong.” His double pick came just days after billionaire Rick Jackson dealt a blow to Trump’s gubernatorial endorsement power when he defeated Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial runoff.The primary runoff between Wilson and Evette got particularly heated during the single debate in which the two candidates faced off against each other. Wilson and Evette sparred over whether casinos and gambling should come to South Carolina and hit each other hard over their records.While Wilson took an anti-gambling stance and blasted Evette for tying her accomplishments to Gov. Henry McMaster’s (R-SC) own policy record, Evette ripped Wilson for his attorney general salary bump and said she would want South Carolina voters to weigh in on the casino debate.Wilson centered his campaign messaging on securing law and order in South Carolina and making “South Carolina Affordable Again.” Evette campaigned on platform priorities like running the state more frugally and modernizing the state’s infrastructure.TUCKER CARLSON SAYS ‘OF COURSE’ HE’S NOT PLANNING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENTBut the two generally shared similar platforms during the runoff and general primary, supporting the Trump administration’s agenda and both campaigning on nixing the state’s income tax.Wilson is now set to face off against Johnson in the Nov. 3 general election. South Carolina voted for Trump by a 17.8% margin in the 2024 presidential election and has not had a Democratic governor since former Gov. Jim Hodges left office in 2003.
