Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 16

Trump Weighs 2-Candidate Endorsement in South Carolina Runoff as June 23 Vote Tightens

Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 16

Trump Weighs 2-Candidate Endorsement in South Carolina Runoff as June 23 Vote Tightens

Q: How does a business founder's vision for South Carolina differ from that of a career prosecutor?

A business founder’s vision for South Carolina is generally centered on growth and management, while a career prosecutor’s is centered on safety and enforcement. In this race, Pam Evette’s background as founder of a payroll and HR company points to a governing approach shaped by business priorities: expanding small-business opportunity, improving the state’s economic climate, cutting taxes, and making government operate more efficiently. Her public profile in the campaign also emphasized education issues such as school choice and early childhood development, alongside a broader argument that private-sector experience is useful in running state government. Alan Wilson’s vision, by contrast, reflects his long career as attorney general. His message has focused on public safety, anti-corruption efforts, immigration enforcement, and using state power to prosecute crime and police misconduct. Supporters framed him as the candidate to challenge entrenched interests, and his record as a prosecutor — including high-profile corruption and criminal cases — reinforced a law-and-order image. So the practical difference is this: Evette’s model is to run South Carolina more like a business, with emphasis on competitiveness and efficiency; Wilson’s model is to run it with a prosecutor’s focus on accountability, crime prevention, and institutional enforcement.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 16

Trump is considering endorsing both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson in South Carolina’s Republican governor runoff, an unusual hedge as advisers describe the June 23 contest as extremely close.
Internal polling cited by people briefed on the race shows Wilson ahead despite Trump’s earlier endorsement of Evette, whom he backed before last week’s first round at Gov. Henry McMaster’s urging.
Wilson has also gathered momentum from South Carolina conservatives, including Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace, state Sen. Wes Climer and Freedom Caucus members, while activists cast Evette as an establishment candidate.
The decision would test the limits of Trump’s primary clout after his endorsed candidate lost Iowa’s GOP governor primary and after he switched sides in Texas to back Ken Paxton before that runoff.
Evette and Wilson debate Tuesday night, early voting starts Wednesday, and the winner will face Democrat Jermaine Johnson in November in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 1998.