Trump to test his influence in S. Carolina runoff for governor
Incumbent is president’s pick
COLUMBIA, S.C. — President Donald Trump’s effort to bend the Republican Party to his will faces its next test Tuesday, when South Carolina voters choose between two GOP gubernatorial candidates who both claim to be Trump acolytes.
The president has already made his pick: incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster, a longtime Trump supporter who failed to win the GOP primary outright earlier this month. McMaster is waging a runoff campaign against businessman John Warren, a first-time politico who some see as more like Trump himself.
Like so much in Trump’s world, the race is coming down to a question of loyalty. The White House is throwing everything at its disposal into the race to save McMaster, who went out on a political limb for Trump at a crucial point in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. Trump issued several tweets over the past week praising the governor and noting his loyalty. He dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to the state on Saturday. The president himself will stump for McMaster this afternoon in West Columbia.
Loyalty to Trump is on the minds of South Carolinians as well. Voters in the state’s coastal region surprised many political observers this month when they ousted Rep. Mark Sanford, a reliable conservative, but someone who criticized Trump. That critique had prompted Trump to endorse the congressman’s opponent, who won the race.
When voters in South Carolina return to the polls Tuesday, they’ll be deciding in part which is more meaningful: a Trump endorsement, or a candidate who embodies some of Trump’s outsider credentials.
“I think that if anyone supported Donald Trump and they look and truly give an honest assessment of whose résumé and whose background is more similar to Donald Trump, they will side with me,” Warren said. “It is clear I’m an outsider. I am a businessman. I’m a conservative. The establishment doesn’t want me to get elected.”
With all the attention coming from the White House, Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon said it’s impossible for voters to ignore the factor that the president could play in the race.
“Trump’s obviously floating around over all of this. You have one candidate endorsed by Trump, but he’s the consummate insider. But then you have a Trump-like candidate,” Huffmon said. “When you have Trump’s endorsement, but you’re running against someone who is very Trump-like, you’ve got to switch gears and figure out the way you can undermine them.”
South Carolina went solidly for Trump in 2016 and remains solid Republican territory. The winner on Tuesday will face Democrat James Smith in the general election.