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One week after President Donald Trump successfully endorsed his victory in the dominant Republican primaries, the president’s endorsement of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette of South Carolina helped boost her bid to succeed Gov. Henry McMaster of the GOP.
Evette, endorsed by Trump a week and a half before Tuesday’s election, will move on to a runoff election in two weeks, the Associated Press reported. The big question is which one of the main suitors will join Evette. The GOP field includes South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Rep. Nationally known Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and multi-millionaire businessman Rom Reddy.
With no candidate expected to win 50% of the primary vote and a majority, the top two will advance to the Republican runoff on June 23. And the winner of the contest will be considered the clear favorite in the general election in the deep red southeastern state.
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Lt. Gov. of South Carolina Pamela Evette announces her bid for the Republican nomination for governor at The Smokestack in Judson Mill in South Carolina on July 14, 2025. (Joshua Boucher/National News Service/Tribune/Getty Images)
Even though he wasn’t on the ballot, Trump’s tenacity in the GOP faces another test in South Carolina.
The president’s brute force was on display in last month’s GOP primaries, where candidates ousted incumbents in contests in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that captured national attention.
But his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa — which came the same day he endorsed Evette — in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.
Feenstra was cut short by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and political strategist who once supported the political wings of MAHA – an acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement associated with Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservation organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
FEENSTRA ENDORSED BY TRUMP DUMPS MAHA-BAKELELE LAHN IN GOVERNOR GOVERNOR PRIMARY UPSET
Zach Lahn raises his fist in celebration after winning the nomination for Iowa GOP governor Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
In South Carolina’s GOP primary, major rivals have been touting their support for Trump and his agenda, hoping to win his support.
Trump, after months of neutrality, endorsed Evette, hailing her as an “America First Patriot” and a “WINNER” in his announcement.
After Trump endorsed Evette, Mace said her verbal push last year for the Justice Department to release files related to its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributed to the president’s support for his rival.
Attorney Nancy Mace, RS.C., is running for Republican governor in South Carolina in the race to replace Gov. Henry McMaster of the GOP. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service)
“I know that I put the possibility of authorization on the line when I wanted it to be made public in the Epstein files,” the attorney wrote. “I wanted you because you deserved the truth – EVERYTHING,” Mace insisted in a post to X.
Trump, in a social media post endorsing Evette, also said he expects Evette to choose Henry McMaster Jr., the governor’s son, as his running mate for the lieutenant governor position.
The president’s comments led to backlash in South Carolina political circles and speculation that McMaster, who succeeded then-Gov. When Nikki Haley stepped down to serve as the UN ambassador during Trump’s first term and has been governor for 10 years, she was trying to give her son a political boost.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2026. (Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press)
But McMaster has denied a deal or pressure, and Evette said she won’t name any running mates until after the first games.
And on Friday, the younger McMaster withdrew his name from the race, saying it was “incredibly humbling” to be talked about as a possible gubernatorial candidate, but that “now is not the right time.”
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The winner of the Republican presidential nomination will be considered the clear favorite in the November general election in South Carolina.
State Attorney Jermaine Johnson, trial lawyer and 2010 gubernatorial candidate William Mullins McLeod Jr., and businessman Billy Webster, who served as chief of staff to Gov. Richard Riley, of the Democratic Alliance, ran for the nomination of his party.
