South Carolina primaries: Victory for Graham, defeat for Nancy Mace, and a runoff for governor

Lindsey Graham won the Republican Senate primary in South Carolina. The senator managed to avoid a runoff and advanced directly to the general election on November 3. In the gubernatorial primary, Pamela Evette, the current lieutenant governor and backed by Donald Trump, finished in first place but failed to secure 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Graham, who is seeking his fifth term in the Senate, faced an opponent who positioned himself as the true representative of the MAGA movement: Mark Lynch. Under state election rules, if no candidate secures 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two candidates advance to a runoff, a scenario the senator wanted to avoid.

With more than 80% of the votes counted, Graham received 57% to Lynch’s 28%. The incumbent senator won in every county in the state, with Greenville and Spartanburg (both in the north) being the most competitive.

"Thank you to the Republican primary voters for your confidence in me and rejecting garbage. I have the best team in politics. President Trump’s endorsement is the gold standard in the Republican world,” the senator said after the victory.

Graham will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician with no experience in elected office.

Pamela Evette and Alan Wilson head to a runoff in the gubernatorial primary

Evette, the current lieutenant governor, secured an endorsement from Trump in the final stretch of the campaign. That momentum helped her secure first place with 29% of the vote. Not far behind was Alan Wilson, the state attorney general, with 25%. Both advanced to a runoff election to be held on June 23.

Third place went to Congressman Ralph Norman (17%), who won in the counties that make up his district. Further behind were businessman Rom Reddy (14%) and Congresswoman Nancy Mace (12%). Despite leading polls for part of the campaign, President Trump’s former ally finished in fifth place.

"I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that. As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund. I chose to expose DEI judges. I chose to expose the abusers of children," Mace wrote on X following the defeat.

"And apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election. I'm at peace with that. Because when a candidate is OK with corruption and cover-ups - something is broken. That's not a political opinion. That's a moral emergency," she added.

As for Wilson, son of Congressman Joe Wilson, he has served as South Carolina’s attorney general since 2011 and has been re-elected three times. The winner between Wilson and Evette will face off against the Democrat, Jermaine Johnson, a state representative.