EPISODE · Jun 1, 2026 · 8 MIN
1 week, 1 day from June 9th primary; Trump endorsement of Evette
from The Charlie James Show Podcast
President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette has fundamentally altered South Carolina’s gubernatorial race exactly one week and one day before the high-stakes June 9, 2026 primary. In the June 1 opening segment of The Charlie James Show on 98.9 WORD, the discussion centered on how this late-breaking development ripples through a hyper-competitive, six-way Republican field where every major candidate spent months fiercely competing for Trump's backing.Key Elements of the EndorsementThe Announcement: Trump issued a comprehensive statement on Truth Social, explicitly calling Evette a "good friend, fighter, and WINNER" while extending his "Complete and Total Endorsement".The Running Mate Suggestion: In a notable twist, Trump publicly recommended that Henry McMaster Jr.—the son of the current term-limited Governor Henry McMaster—serve as Evette's lieutenant governor running mate.The Competitive Snub: The endorsement functions as a direct blow to high-profile primary rivals, most notably U.S. Representative Nancy Mace and Attorney General Alan Wilson, who have heavily aligned their campaigns with the MAGA platform.Where the Republican Field StandsThe South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary remains incredibly tight, with early voting already underway. According to a recent Trafalgar Group poll, the margin between the top three candidates falls well within the statistical margin of error:
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What this episode covers
00:00 All right, welcome to the program Monday afternoon as we just had a little thunderstorm roll through the area. Welcome. I hope you guys had a great weekend, but here we are. One week, one day from the 2026 primary. I you what, we kept saying, it's coming, it's coming. It's gonna be here before you know it. And wham, here we are right in the middle of it, one week away. Now here's what we had. 00:29 We did have some news this morning from Ralph Norman, Congressman Ralph Norman, who is running for governor of South Carolina, has chosen former state representative Adam Morgan to be his running mate. Now, we'll get into that coming up in just a second. ah But also, we've got to talk about Pamela Vett. We've got to talk about this uh endorsement from Donald Trump. Now, 00:58 We were at Joey Hudson's farm on Saturday night, had a great time. Everybody was there and the jaws were a-wagging, y'all. Everybody was a-chatting about this. Everybody, Charlie, what do you think about Trump endorsing Evin? And I was like, I don't know. What do you think about Trump endorsing Evin? And everybody was like, I don't think it's going to help. I don't think it's going to help. Especially, and everybody had the same talking points. 01:28 especially since he basically painted her into a corner with now choosing Henry McMaster Jr. 01:41 as the running mate. Now, I don't know, she has said that she has made no decision, but it sounds like the decision just got made. So the question is this, um was this just a little bit of payback from Donald Trump? Was this a little ehh from Donald Trump to Henry McMaster? 02:07 Henry McMaster has had several opportunities, and this is why I will never get the Order of the Palmetto from Henry McMaster. um Henry McMaster has had several opportunities to support President Donald John Trump, and he has failed in those. Now, Donald Trump loves, liked, I say liked, Henry McMaster because Henry McMaster was the first elected official to come out and openly endorse him, okay? 02:37 Then to pay him back, what Donald Trump did was he took Nikki Haley out of the governor's mansion, gave her the job as the ambassador to the UN from the United States. That allowed Henry, Lieutenant Governor, to move up into that position, which is a position he wanted so long his whole life. He wanted to be the governor of South Carolina, and then he got it. So what's he done from the time that he took office up until now? 03:09 That's the question. What's he done? Where's the great improvement? Where are, what about the roads? Hey, roads good? No, no, roads aren't good. How about the bridges? Bridges are all taken care of. No, roads, no. Bridges aren't taken care of? No. Everything, oh, we got scout motors. Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, we're getting $1.3 billion, 400 million cold hard cash to do whatever they want to with. I don't think we're ever gonna see a vehicle roll off that line. 03:40 I had the Carolina Panthers training camp. Oh, what happened to that? They backed out of that. It's just been one big failure after another with Henry McMaster. So Henry had the opportunity, number one, to urge, and really that's basically when you're governor of South Carolina, that's your main job is to urge the state legislature to go along with, let's just take the one big beautiful bill. 04:09 that would have given us all of those great tax breaks and tax credits. Would give relief to seniors. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime. No, it's all this stuff. Did we go along with that here in South Carolina? No, no, we did not. Did Henry McMaster go on television or radio or the newspaper or anywhere and go? I really disagree with our state legislature. I think we should go along and comply with the one big beautiful bill. Did he ever do that? No. 04:39 No, he did not. Then you've got the redistricting thing. 04:46 Donald Trump wanted redistricting. Donald Trump called Henry McMaster or vice versa. Henry, you got to call a special se ...
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1 week, 1 day from June 9th primary; Trump endorsement of Evette
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