NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
One week after President Donald Trump‘s endorsement-winning streak in high-profile Republican primaries was snapped, the president’s immense clout over the GOP is facing another test in South Carolina.
While Trump’s preferred choice for the Palmetto State’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, has clinched one of the two tickets in the race for the nomination, so has South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The two will now advance to the Republican runoff election in two weeks, the Associated Press reports, in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster.
DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced his candidacy for governor on Monday, June 23, 2025, accompanied by his family. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service)
Since no candidate was expected to top 50% of the primary vote and land a majority, the top two finishers will advance to the June 23 Republican runoff. And the winner of the runoff will be considered the clear favorite in the general election in the solidly red southeastern state.
While he wasn’t on the ballot, Trump’s immense clout over the GOP is facing another test in South Carolina.
The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past month, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.
But his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa a week and a half ago — which came on the same day he also backed Evette — in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to muscle the three-term congressman to victory.
TRUMP-ENDORSED FEENSTRA CONCEDES TO MAHA-BACKED LAHN IN GOP GOVERNOR PRIMARY UPSET
Zach Lahn raises his fist in celebration after winning Iowa’s GOP gubernatorial nomination, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
Feenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
In the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, the major contenders had long been highlighting their support for Trump and his agenda, in hopes of landing his support.
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette announces her bid for the Republican nomination for governor at The Smokestack at Judson Mill in South Carolina on July 14, 2025. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)
Trump, after staying neutral for months, endorsed Evette, praising her as an “America First Patriot” and a “WINNER” in his announcement.
After Trump backed Evette, Mace said that her very vocal push last year for the Justice Department to release the files related to its probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributed to the president’s backing of her rival.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in South Carolina in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service)
“I know I put the likelihood of an endorsement on the line when I demanded transparency on the Epstein files,” the lawmaker wrote. “I demanded it because you deserved the truth — ALL OF IT,” Mace emphasized in a post on X.
Trump, in a social media post endorsing Evette, also said he expected Evette to choose Henry McMaster Jr., the governor’s son, as her running mate for lieutenant governor.
The comment by the president led to blowback in South Carolina political circles and speculation that McMaster, who succeeded then-Gov. Nikki Haley when she stepped down to serve as U.N. ambassador during Trump’s first term and who is in his 10th year as governor, was trying to give his 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 denied any deal or pressure, and Evette has said she wouldn’t name any running mate until after the primary is over.
And on Friday, the younger McMaster took his name out of contention, saying it was “incredibly humbling” to be mentioned as a possible lieutenant governor candidate, but that “now is simply not the right time.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The winner of the Republican gubernatorial nomination will be considered the clear favorite in November’s general election in South Carolina.
State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, trial attorney and 2010 gubernatorial candidate William Mullins McLeod Jr., and businessman Billy Webster, who served as chief of staff to then-Democratic Gov. Richard Riley, are running for their party’s nomination.
<!–>
–>
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: moxie.foxnews.com
