WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina voters will choose nominees for governor and other offices in a state primary on Tuesday, the latest test of President Donald Trump’s sway over Republican voters.
Seven Republicans and three Democrats have lined up to succeed Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited after 10 years in office. Regardless of party, his replacement will play a key role in the early stages of the 2028 presidential race, with the state expected to again hold critical first-in-the-South presidential primaries.
Trump’s recent endorsement of Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to succeed McMaster could be decisive in a state he carried in three presidential campaigns with at least 55% of the vote. But a recent Republican gubernatorial primary in Iowa showed that Trump’s backing, while powerful, is not a guarantee of success. Trump’s pick in that race, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, narrowly lost to businessman Zach Lahn.
Nonetheless, Trump’s endorsement is still highly coveted. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a onetime staunch Trump ally who broke with the president in calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, still touts a past Trump endorsement on her current gubernatorial campaign website.
Other Republican candidates for governor include U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman and state Attorney General Alan Wilson, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.
McMaster also has endorsed Evette.
The candidates for the Democratic nomination are state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, attorney Mullins McLeod and businessman and former Bill Clinton-era U.S. Department of Education chief of staff Billy Webster.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham faces five Republican primary challengers in his bid for a fifth term. He also has Trump’s endorsement.
Among the Democrats running is Annie Andrews, a physician who unsuccessfully challenged Mace for her U.S. House seat in 2022.
Graham had spent more than $29 million on his reelection bid as of May 20, far outpacing any of his Republican or Democratic challengers. He entered the final stretch of the primary campaign with about $4.2 million remaining in the bank, more than double the rest of the Republican field combined.
Mace’s campaign for governor leaves her 1st Congressional District seat open. Seven Democrats and 11 Republicans will appear on the primary ballots, although one Republican, former Gov. Mark Sanford, has dropped out of the race.
None of South Carolina’s seven congressional seats is expected to be particularly competitive in November, but those seats were at the center of a mid-decade redistricting effort backed by Trump to eliminate the state’s sole Democratic-held seat. The Republican-controlled state Senate rejected that effort, and candidates are running under the existing map.
Primary winners must receive a majority of the vote to avoid a June 23 runoff between the top two vote-getters.
Greenville, Horry, Charleston, Richland and Spartanburg counties are the most populous in the state and play significant roles in primaries for both parties, although large counties with significant Black populations, like Richland, Florence and Sumter, tend to have a bigger impact in Democratic contests.
Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:
When do polls close?
Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, comptroller, state school superintendent, agriculture commissioner and state House.
Who gets to vote?
Any registered voter may participate in any party’s primary.
How many voters are there?
As of Friday, there were about 3.4 million registered voters in South Carolina. Voters in South Carolina do not register by party.
How many people actually vote?
The 2018 and 2022 Republican primaries for governor each had about 368,000 votes cast. In the Democratic gubernatorial primaries, there were about 240,000 votes cast in 2018 and about 182,000 in 2022.
How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?
About 29% of the Democratic primary vote and about 17% of the Republican primary vote in the 2022 gubernatorial primaries was cast before primary day.
As of Friday, about 279,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, almost all of it from early in-person voting.
When are early and absentee votes released?
Nearly all of South Carolina’s 46 counties release all or almost all of their early in-person and mail voting results in the first vote update of the night, usually before releasing any results from in-person Election Day voting.
How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 7:21 p.m. ET, or 21 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 1:14 a.m. ET, with 99.9% of total votes counted.
When will the AP declare a winner?
The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
How do recounts work?
In South Carolina, recounts are automatic if the margin between the winning and losing candidates is 1% of the total vote or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Are we there yet?
As of Tuesday, there will be 14 days until the primary runoff elections on June 23 and 147 days until the Nov. 3 general election.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.
