Solicitor David Stumbo Enters Attorney General Race: Crossroads 2026

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by DYLAN NOLAN

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Veteran South Carolina prosecutor David Stumbo has entered the race to become the Palmetto State’s next attorney general.

Stumbo, 49, of Greenwood S.C., is currently in his fourth term as solicitor for the S.C. eighth circuit, which includes Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry counties. First elected in 2012, he was reelected to that post in 2016, 2020 and again in 2024. Stumbo raised nearly $100,000 from supporters during his first twenty-four hours as a potential candidate for attorney general of the Palmetto State.

While Stumbo formally announced his candidacy on Tuesday evening (September 16, 2025) at the Laurens County Museum, FITSNews had the opportunity to preview his stump speech last week when he spoke to the Lexington County GOP.

Stumbo began his career in Lexington County, first attending law school in Columbia, S.C. prior to working for then attorney general Henry McMaster.

“I was the head prosecutor for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,” Stumbo recounted, noting he prosecuted cases in which S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents impersonated minors in order to catch predators.

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“McMaster had a big priority placed on protecting our children,” Stumbo recalled, but said his case-load changed after he was recruited to prosecute cases in the state’s eleventh judicial circuit.

“I did everything from murders to armed robberies, drug trafficking – I can’t remember the number of meth labs I prosecuted down in Swansea and Gaston,” Stumbo said, adding this is when he “really learned how to be a courtroom prosecutor.”

When current attorney general Alan Wilson won office in 2010 he tapped Stumbo to oversee the State Grand Jury, a prosecutorial unit statutorily empowered to investigate and indict narcotics conspiracies, criminal gangs, public corruption, securities fraud, human trafficking, election fraud, computer crimes, money laundering, and other multi-jurisdiction crimes.

“When he was sworn in, that was my first day on the job at the Attorney General’s Office for my second tour of duty,” Stumbo said. “We had public corruption cases. We had a number of different things in the State Grand Jury, but again, that was part of my education.”

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After helping Wilson get established in the AG’s office, another unexpected recruitment drove Stumbo’s decision to seek elected office himself.

“I thought I’d be at the Attorney General’s Office helping run the State Grand Jury with Creighton Waters, who is another dear friend of mine, for many years,” Stumbo said.

His plans changed when “out of the blue -two sheriffs in the eighth circuit” called him, informing him “our solicitor isn’t trying any cases.”

“The morale of law enforcement, particularly in Greenwood, is very low,” the sheriffs told Stumbo, before asking him to run for solicitor.

“I said, ‘well, let me go home and talk to my wife about it,'” Stumbo recalled.

His wife, Vanessa Stumbo – whom he described as extremely risk-averse – supported his candidacy after praying about the matter.

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“I had to leave the Attorney General’s office, and that good job that I had there – the job that I loved, to go do what we felt like God was calling us to do,” Stumbo said.

“We won that race by about 58% of the vote in Republican primary against an incumbent,” he added. “And the reason I won that race, y’all, is not because I’m some great guy – it’s because law enforcement believed in us.”

Stumbo credited their support for his multiple successful re-election campaigns.

“That was thirteen years ago,” he said. “I’m still the eighth circuit solicitor today.”

“It’s been one of the honors of my life to serve as a circuit solicitor,” Stumbo added.

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After discussing his background, Stumbo spoke about the issues he feels Palmetto State law enforcement officials must address.

“Fentanyl has been a major problem in all of our communities, and one of the reasons is that the border was so porous for four years under the Biden administration,” Stumbo said.

He gauged law enforcement’s success in targeting the deadly drug’s distribution by tracking the inflation of it’s street price as authorities have cracked down on drug dealers.

“Fentanyl was so easy and cheap to get,” he said. “In fact, what we found a couple of years ago is a single fentanyl blue pill was selling for $2 a pill on the streets of Greenwood.”

“We decided to start attacking the problem in the eighth circuit, and fortunately, we have a new president that was sworn in in January who decided to do something about the border, and that same $2 pill a couple of years ago in Greenwood now sells for about $8,” he said.

“That means we’re making a dent,” Stumbo insisted, before adding “the war is certainly far from over.”

Stumbo also identified gang violence as one of the recurring issues he’s faced as a prosecutor.

“Probably 90% of our attempted murder cases are these local gangs shooting back and forth at each other,” Stumbo said, adding the problem isn’t unique to the eighth circuit.

“We’re seeing it all over the place,” he said.

Stumbo indicated he wants to continue South Carolina’s steady climb from the bottom of the national barrel when it comes to domestic violence statistics.

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“Fifteen years ago, when I started, when I was at the attorney general’s office and solicitor’s office, South Carolina was regularly number one in the country in domestic violence,” he said.

Stumbo credited “beefed up,” domestic violence statutes passed during the administration of former governor Nikki Haley with the state’s progress on this front, but noted “there’s still work to be done.”

In his speech, Stumbo pivoted from criminal concerns to praising Wilson’s willingness to challenge the legality of actions taken by Democrat presidential administrations.

“They’re fighting the good fight on election integrity laws, they’re fighting the good fight on defending our heartbeat bill in South Carolina and making sure we’re a pro life – truly pro life – state,” Stumbo said as he emphasized his desire to continue Wilson’s zealous advocacy against liberal federal policies, if elected.

“I believe that my career has prepared me for that job, not only over two decades as a prosecutor… but I’ve also been a Republican and conservative my entire life,” Stumbo said.

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Four-term attorney general Alan Wilson is not seeking reelection in 2026, choosing instead to campaign for governor of the Palmetto State. Trial lawyer and state senator Stephen Goldfinch recently announced his candidacy to succeed Wilson, and veteran S.C. first district solicitor David Pascoe – who recently switched to the GOP – is also running for the state’s top prosecutorial post.

Pascoe was previously touted as a candidate for attorney general on the Democrat side of the ledger in 2022 – but he declined to seek that nomination (and wisely so). No Democrat has won a statewide election in the Palmetto State since 2006 – and no Democrat has won an attorney general’s race since 1990.

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This media outlet has yet to weigh in on the race editorially, except to take a dim view of Goldfinch’s candidacy.

Count on FITSNews to provide our audience with updates as this field continues to coalesce…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

(Via: Travis Bell)

Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.

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