South Carolina governor wins runoff after strong backing from Trump

by Reid Wilson - 06/26/18 9:18 PM ET

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) won a runoff election to secure the Republican nomination for a full four-year term on Tuesday, hours after President Trump held a campaign-style rally on McMaster’s behalf.

McMaster led businessman John Warren (R) by a margin of 54 to 46 percent, with 84 percent of the precincts reported. The Associated Press projected that McMaster would win the race.

McMaster, a former attorney general and lieutenant governor who was the first statewide elected official to endorse Trump during the 2016 primaries, owes his governorship to Trump. McMaster took South Carolina’s top job after Trump tapped his predecessor, Nikki Haley, to become the American ambassador to the United Nations.

But McMaster had struggled to keep the job. He fended off attacks from three other well-funded candidates, who criticized him for his long tenure in state government.

Warren, 39, making his first run for political office, cast himself as an outsider who could clean up rampant corruption in the South Carolina legislature that has led to several resignations and lawsuits in recent years.

McMaster took just 42 percent in the June 12 primary, compared with 28 percent for Warren. Both the third- and fourth-place finishers, Catherine Templeton and Kevin Bryant, endorsed Warren.

Trump and his White House team invested heavily in McMaster’s success. The president tweeted about McMaster ten times in the month of June, and Vice President Mike Pence traveled to South Carolina over the weekend to stump with the incumbent.

“He’s a fighter. He’s tough. He’s strong,” Trump said of McMaster at Monday’s rally near Columbia, which drew a crowd as large as 2,500.

McMaster enters the general election as a big favorite over the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Smith (D). Smith took 62 percent of the vote in this month’s primary election, avoiding a runoff, but he faces a tough road ahead in November. Democrats have won just one governor’s race in the Palmetto State in the last 32 years.

Tags Donald Trump Mike Pence Nikki Haley