COLUMBIA, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A little over a month into 2025, South Carolina politicians already have their sights set on the election in 2026. The biggest race on the ballot is the one for governor, as Henry McMaster will be term-limited. Republicans seem to be already jockeying for position.
Gibbs Knotts, provost at Coastal Carolina University, said whoever fills the office will have to follow a popular governor who will have held the position for a decade. “There’s going to be a lot of people that have waited a really long time to run here in 2026. I expect it to be a competitive field.”
Four names have been floated in the past few weeks. Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt Governor Pamela Evette, US Rep Ralph Norman, and US Rep Nancy Mace. Mace has already taken time on social media and during press conferences to criticize her potential opponents.
“I just got single-handedly rid of a sanctuary sheriff in Charleston, SC, when our Lt. Governor stood silent when the attorney general did nothing,” she told reporters in January.
So far, none of the four have announced a decision to run for the seat, but they also aren’t ruling it out.
“We’re gonna look in the short time ahead, and you know, I’m going to let everybody know when the right time it is to talk about something like that,” said Lt. Governor Evette.
When the candidates do officially declare, expect national issues to come up, at least during the primary. Knotts said DEI policies and immigration enforcement will get a lot of time, with AG Alan Wilson laying out his plans for immigration enforcement during an interview with Queen City News.
“This isn’t about ripping children out of schools or going in and kicking in doors of people who are law-abiding citizens. This is just about giving law enforcement more bandwidth to work with our federal law enforcement officials, who are charged with keeping our borders safe,” said Wilson
In an interview on Sunday afternoon, Everette told Queen City News that she’s not ready to declare but is still considering running.
“Going into our agencies and trying to make sure we can, where can we be more efficient? Where can we put automation in place?”
Currently, only Thomas Ravenel, the former state treasurer, has said he’s running in the Republican primary.