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by WILL FOLKS
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A television advertisement in which South Carolina governor Henry McMaster appears to endorse his lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, as his successor has ruffled feathers in the Palmetto State.
McMaster’s feathers, specifically…
McMaster is privately seething over the advertisement, sources familiar with the situation have confirmed to FITSNews.
“It was run without his knowledge or consent,” a source close to the governor confirmed to our media outlet.
The thirty-second spot was produced by Patriots for South Carolina, a political action committee whose wealthy donors are supporting Evette’s campaign for 2026 governor.
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The ad takes statements made by McMaster about Evette ahead of their 2018 campaign – in which he won his first full term as governor (and she won election on his ticket) – and implies they are being made in the context of her upcoming gubernatorial bid.
“She’s smart, hard-working and has the experience we need,” McMaster said in the spot, which was originally posted to YouTube on November 28, 2017.
“Pam is what South Carolina is all about,” the governor continued. “I believe in South Carolina – and I believe in Pam Evette.”
Evette is one of five announced candidates seeking the decisive Republican gubernatorial nomination next spring. Also running are first district congresswoman Nancy Mace, fourth-term S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson, veteran fifth district congressman Ralph Norman and state senator Josh Kimbrell.
McMaster has not endorsed anyone to succeed him…
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This isn’t the first time Evette’s team has played fast and loose with high-profile endorsements… or rather non-endorsements. Previously, Evette and her allies have privately suggested an endorsement from U.S. president Donald Trump was “in the works” or, alternately, a “done deal.”
Evette’s initial television ads feature wall-to-wall clips of Trump praising the lieutenant governor – suggesting he is supporting her candidacy.
When last we checked, however, Trump’s political shop indicated he had “no plans” to issue an endorsement in the race…
The McMaster advertisement certainly seems to be an unforced error by supporters of Evette, who recently launched a major advertising blitz in an effort to bolster her flagging candidacy. Long mired in single digits, Evette stormed to the head of the pack earlier this month– if the results of a new survey from Co/efficient are to be believed.
According to the poll (.pdf), Evette trails Mace – whom she has pilloried in her ads – by just one percentage point and has actually edged ahead of Wilson (again, assuming the survey’s results are to be believed).
Filing for next spring’s partisan primary elections opens in March, with the primary itself scheduled for June 9, 2026. In the event no candidate wins a majority of votes in the primary, a runoff election would be held two weeks later (on June 23, 2026). As noted, the GOP primary is the race to watch in South Carolina. As we often note, Democrats haven’t won a gubernatorial race since 1998 – and haven’t won a statewide election since 2006. That means whomever captures the Republican nomination is all but assured of prevailing in the general election next November.
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UPDATE |
Both Wilson and Mace have called on Evette to remove the advertisement…
““It is wrong for Pamela Evette and her campaign to attempt to confuse voters with an ad from 2017 and speak for Governor McMaster and President Trump when both have made it clear they have not endorsed anyone in this race,” Wilson said. “That’s not honest, not the way to do business, and it is not fair to South Carolina families.”
Mace’s campaign press secretary, Piper Gifford, concurred.
“This is nothing but more false advertising from Pam Evette,” Gifford said. “Evette is trying to trick Republican voters with a non-existent Trump endorsement. The fact is simple: President Trump has not endorsed her, and neither has Governor McMaster. In fact, McMaster has made it crystal clear he isn’t endorsing anyone at this time, including his own Lieutenant Governor.”
“Evette’s ad is nothing more than smoke and mirrors from a politician who knows she can’t win on her record,” Gifford added. “South Carolina voters deserve honesty, not fake endorsements from a candidate who lies.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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7 comments
Alan Wilson is so unelectable he is now losing to a woman no one has ever heard of with made up endorsements!
Wilson and Mace have done the same thing but worse.
Both have taken credit for the work of others and both have leaned on their propped up association with the president and other powerful.
Wilson and Mace are not trustworthy and are unelectable. I hope someone in this race steps up and shows us why they should be our governor.
It’s easy to get carried away with ads especially after her boost, maybe it was embellished by her ad people after she was tasting victory from her positive ad placements, but yeah it looks like Trumps leaving the white house and becoming our next Lt Gov haha.
But wow look at the other candidates responses, Pam’s made her way to the stage.
Pam… Honey! I dont need Trump to tell me your a good candidate for Governor. You’re not in anyones shadow, you’re our Lt Gov. You’ve got our attention. Start polishing Pam Evettes Governor character, you’ll have primaries sooner than you think.
What you do have is an evolving state, we dont need a vicious fighter, we have SLED. We’ve got lawyers, good ol boys, democrats, husbands, wives, kids, tourists, businesses, Teachers, students etc. There’s been issues with elected officials behavior, the left needs someone to mediate not disavow them, the legislature is rogue. Whose going to sit in that office and thoroughly plan out the best path for our state like a business minded professional whose had to earn what it means to be South Carolinian. When you earn it, you cherish it, and I think that’s the person we should be seeing.
Is Mace just big mad she did not think of this first?
Can we please add “None of the above “ to the ballot choices?
Evette was like a good dog to Henry for what, eight going on ten years now? She sat quietly in the corner licking herself, or whatever good dogs do, never barking or speaking very much. I guess she figured the endorsement from a guy who would never have spent a night in The Governor’s Mansion but for Trump pushing him, was hers. A few months back, Pam and some other sellouts welcomed the state version of AIPAC to South Carolina, so she rightly figures some of that Joo bribe money is hers. Pam does not look like the face of a deep thinker. Poor thing will stand around with a cup in her outstretched hand thinking “Where’s mine?” “Is it my turn, yet?”
Mace has proven herself totally batshit crazy. She will be another Katrina Shealy, for “the wimmen an tha chirren” and not anyone else, much.
Wilson is another damn prosecutor, like McMaster, who thinks laws need to all be written so that the prosecution never loses a case. Sadly of the three, Wilson is our most sane choice.
Let’s not forget Ralph Norman who started the Freedumb Caucus in SC and picked RJ May, ADMITTED CHILD SEX PREDATOR, to run it.