Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette over Rep. Nancy Mace in the race for Gov. Henry McMaster’s seat.
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South Carolina voters will choose their parties’ nominees in high-profile statewide races on Tuesday, several of which will test the strength of President Donald Trump’s usually powerful endorsement.
Palmetto State Republicans will select nominees for Senate, governor and open congressional seats, among other races, and the victors are likely to sail through the November general election in the heavily GOP state. But it’s likely that at least one race will head to a runoff election because a candidate must secure at least 50 percent of the vote to win.
The future of several nationally prominent Republicans is also on the line as Rep. Nancy Mace (R) runs for governor and Sen. Lindsey Graham seeks a fourth term.
Here’s what to watch in Tuesday’s elections.
The state’s most watched race Tuesday is its GOP primary for governor, in which the Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, faces two sitting members of Congress, Mace and Ralph Norman, state Attorney General Alan Wilson and businessman Rom Reddy.
Such a crowded field makes a runoff election foreseeable, with late polling not showing any candidate coming close to breaking 50 percent.
Trump endorsed Evette late in the race, after the candidates vied for his endorsement. Evette also has the endorsement of the sitting governor, Henry McMaster, who is term-limited. Mace, who has criticized Trump’s decision to support Evette, had sought to rebrand as a strong Trump supporter in recent years after flipping a swing-district congressional seat in 2020 as a moderate, independent-minded Republican and blasting Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Norman, a loyal Trump ally throughout the president’s first term, fell out of Trump’s favor after endorsing former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential race.
Reddy tapped his fortune to fund his own campaign and become competitive in the final weeks of the race. Wilson is the son of longtime Rep. Joe Wilson, who is also on the ballot Tuesday.
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Graham is up for reelection with Trump’s endorsement, despite facing years of contempt from grassroots conservative activists in the state.
Graham, who has served in the Senate since 2003 and Congress since 1995, has faced boos from South Carolina Republicans at Trump rallies in recent years. MAGA-aligned activists have accused him of being too hawkish on foreign policy issues and out of step with populist voters.
But Trump has stood by him, endorsing Graham over right-wing challenger Mark Lynch and hosting fundraisers for Graham, with whom Trump stays in close contact. Graham is one of five Republicans on the Senate ballot Tuesday, though Lynch has been his most notable challenger.
Trump held a tele-rally in support of Evette and Graham on Monday evening, a sign that the White House is trying to minimize the chances that Graham’s race heads to a runoff. “We don’t want any surprises,” Trump said during the tele-rally. “We don’t want any bad things to happen in elections.”
None of the state’s seven congressional seats are likely to be competitive this fall, but two of them are open because Mace and Norman gave up their seats to run for governor.
Trump unsuccessfully pushed the state’s Republican legislature to redraw the map to eliminate its one Democratic seat, held by longtime Rep. James E. Clyburn who is running for reelection.
Some Republican state senators cited the tens of thousands of voters who already cast ballots early in the House primaries as a reason to resist Trump’s call for the legislature to redraw the congressional map mid-decade.
Democratic outrage about Trump’s redistricting push spurred a larger than usual turnout for the party in early primary voting.
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