Pam Evette

Pamela Evette is the 93rd Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina — the first Republican woman to hold that office — and a candidate in the 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary to succeed term-limited Governor Henry McMaster.

What Happened

Background. Born in Ohio to the grandchildren of Polish immigrants, Evette earned a business degree from Cleveland State University and founded Quality Business Solutions (QBS), a payroll and HR firm headquartered in Travelers Rest. She grew QBS into a reported billion-dollar enterprise and was ranked the No. 3 female entrepreneur in the United States by Inc. magazine in 2015. She was elected lieutenant governor in 2018, running on the same ticket as McMaster — the first time a South Carolina lieutenant governor was elected jointly with the governor.

July 14, 2025 — Evette announces. Evette formally declared her gubernatorial candidacy. Her campaign emphasized her executive experience and touted co-authorship of the largest income tax cut in state history during the McMaster administration.

June 12, 2025 — Mace's early jab. Before Mace herself had formally entered the race, she posted on X (formerly Twitter): "Pam Evette's 'leadership' is a lot of smiling and waving. She's a nice lady. No edge. No guts. No shot." Multiple outlets also attributed to Mace a "glorified ribbon cutter" characterization of Evette's tenure as lieutenant governor, though that phrase appears in news reporting rather than in a separately verified Mace statement.

August 4, 2025 — Mace officially enters. Mace formally launched her campaign at The Citadel, declining to seek re-election to her House seat. She framed the race as taking on a corrupt establishment, arguing the state had been "broken" for "the last decade since Pam Evette's been in office."

September 25–29, 2025 — Ad controversy. A super PAC aligned with Evette, Patriots for South Carolina, began airing a 30-second TV spot that featured archived footage of President Trump praising Evette at rallies and Governor McMaster saying "Pam is what South Carolina is all about" and "I believe in Pam Evette" — clips drawn from McMaster's 2018 campaign, not the 2026 race. Neither Trump nor McMaster had endorsed any candidate. Mace and Attorney General Alan Wilson jointly demanded the ad be pulled. Mace's campaign spokesperson Piper Gifford called it "nothing more than smoke and mirrors from a politician who knows she can't win on her record." Evette's campaign spokesperson Matthew Goins responded: "If I were Nancy or Alan and saw those recent poll numbers, I'd be freaking out, too." The super PAC pulled the ad by September 29.

May 29, 2026 — Trump endorses Evette. President Trump issued a formal endorsement of Evette, writing that she "never wavered, never let me down, and was the only South Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate to Endorse me as soon as I launched my 2024 Presidential Campaign." Mace publicly disputed that Evette held the endorsement, posting "Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP. Do not believe her LIES." Mace later acknowledged the endorsement was real and attributed Trump's decision to her own vote on a discharge petition to release unredacted Epstein files. Mace described the primary as "a dog fight" and said she planned to "fight to the death."

June 9, 2026 — Primary. The Republican gubernatorial primary was held. Pre-election polling and prediction markets placed Evette as the frontrunner; Kalshi showed Evette at 77 percent, Wilson at 17 percent, and Mace at approximately 4 percent on primary day.

MACEOPEDIA

What Happened

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