South Carolina Republicans will choose between two Trump-endorsed candidates in a runoff for governor after Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson finished atop a crowded primary field Tuesday night.
The winner will be heavily favored in November's general election in a state that has consistently voted Republican. Evette led the field in fundraising with roughly $3.5 million, including $1 million of her own money.
The primary result delivered a sharp rebuke to U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, who finished fifth and saw her political standing collapse. Mace attributed her defeat to her vote supporting the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, an issue that has created friction with Trump.
In a statement posted to X, Mace said she chose to stand on principle despite knowing it might cost her the race. "I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that," she wrote. "As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up."
Evette, an entrepreneur who built Quality Business Solutions into a billion-dollar revenue company before entering politics, will face Wilson, who has served as the state's attorney general since 2011. Wilson is also a reserve colonel in the National Guard's judge advocate general corps and the adoptive son of longtime U.S. Representative Joe Wilson.
Two other candidates, U.S. Representative Ralph Norman and former ExxonMobil executive Rom Reddy, also failed to advance. Reddy had invested $5 million of his own money into the campaign, partly driven by frustration over years of regulatory disputes concerning a sea wall he built at his Sea Island home.
The Republican nominee will face Democrat Jermaine Johnson, a state representative and former professional basketball player from the Columbia area who won his primary with broad backing from party officials.
In another key race, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham secured the Republican nomination after fending off five challengers, the most since taking office in 2003. Graham will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in November. Mark Lynch, an appliance repair store owner from Greenville who positioned himself as an anti-establishment outsider focused on housing and immigration, was Graham's closest challenger but fell short.
Author James Rodriguez: "Evette and Wilson's clear path to the runoff shows Trump's endorsement still carries decisive weight in South Carolina Republican politics, but Mace's collapse suggests the Epstein question remains a genuine liability for Trump himself."
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