One week after President Donald Trump's endorsement winning streak in high-profile Republican primaries was snapped, the president's backing of South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette helped boost her bid to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster.
Evette, who was endorsed by Trump a week and a half before Tuesday's primary, will advance to a runoff election in two weeks, The Associated Press reports. The big question is which one of the other major gubernatorial contenders will join Evette. The GOP field includes South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, nationally known Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and multimillionaire businessman Rom Reddy.
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.
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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 — 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.
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.
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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.
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.
"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.
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."
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.
