COLUMBIA — As she mulls a 2026 gubernatorial bid, South Carolina’s lieutenant governor says her decision is guided by a desire to build on the state’s economic growth under Gov. Henry McMaster using her own business experience.
Pam Evette has served alongside McMaster since the 2018 election, the first in the state with candidates for governor and lieutenant governor running on the same ticket. McMaster, the state’s oldest and longest-serving elected governor in state history, can’t run again.
“That plays a factor in this, making sure that legacy continues on, so I’m seriously considering (running),” Evette told the SC Daily Gazette on Wednesday.
She did not give a timeline for a decision.
Evette, who joined McMaster’s team as his running mate in November 2017, said the accomplishments she’s proud of include using the governor’s bully pulpit to promote the career paths available to students through the state’s technical colleges.
Her roles have included leading South Carolina’s 2020 Complete Count Committee, which had the unexpected task of getting an official tally of residents amid a pandemic.
The 57-year-old accountant will be aided by the political action committee Patriots for South Carolina. Made up of allies of President Donald Trump, the PAC has already secured $5 million in donor commitments for Evette, The Post and Courier first reported.
It’s a boost she’ll need to stand out among an expectedly crowded field for the Republican nomination. Despite her travels across the state as the governor’s ambassador and her frequent appearances beside McMaster at news conferences, Evette is an unknown to many voters, as shown by the latest Winthrop Poll.
Although no one is officially in the race, Republicans considering a bid include Attorney General Alan Wilson, U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and state Sens. Sean Bennett and Josh Kimbrell.
Unlike any of them, Evette’s bid for governor would be her first solo run for elected office.
Mace, who constituents criticized for not attending a town hall in her district last Friday, was at the Statehouse on Wednesday and told reporters “things are looking very positive” for her decision on a gubernatorial announcement. She added that she was meeting with House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, about the “future of the state.”
The First District congresswoman has made repeated jabs at Evette on social media.
However, the lieutenant governor said the comments don’t bother her much.
“That’s what you see in Washington (D.C.) politics, and that’s why we are where we are in Washington with an unbalanced budget and things not getting done,” Evette said.
One question is who in the potential field might get Trump’s endorsement. In January, Mace told reporters that Trump’s opinion on her potential run would be a crucial factor in her decision.
Evette said she’s not relying on his endorsement, though she called Trump an inspiration. She described herself as a “Trump girl” when McMaster introduced her to voters in 2017. It was at a reception in Washington, D.C., for Trump’s inauguration where she first met McMaster.
Last week, Evette traveled to Washington at the invitation of the White House for an event celebrating Women’s History Month. Mace was also among attendees.
‘Time is money’
Originally from Ohio, Evette moved to South Carolina two decades ago and made the Palmetto State her adopted home, she said. It’s where she raised her three children and grew her business.
When McMaster picked Evette, the political novice was the president and CEO of Quality Business Solutions, an outsourcing payroll and human resources firm operating out of Travelers Rest for clients nationwide. (Her husband became president when she joined McMaster’s team.)
Her business credentials and desire to cut bureaucratic red tape remain the key component of her potential sales pitch to voters.
During her conversation with the SC Daily Gazette, Evette said she’d want to put her “own stamp” on the state with a company-like approach to the governor’s office.
Sounding a lot like former Gov. Nikki Haley, who also had an accounting background and crafted her reputation as the “jobs governor,” Evette said she’d focus on making South Carolina the most business-friendly state in the nation — if she were to run, of course.
As a former business owner, now equipped with more than six years in office, Evette says she has a unique understanding of how to help the state’s business community.
“When you believe that the government can run efficiently like a business in the private sector, who’s better to do that than a businessperson that’s had to live with it every day in the private sector,” she said.
She also wants to continue a push for technical college education, which she says would “create the workforce of tomorrow.”
She touted the success of the state’s Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship, better known as SC WINS, that covers expenses for students at South Carolina’s 16 technical colleges.
SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.
