South Carolina primary nearly set, Senate and governor races take shape

South Carolina’s June 9 primary did more than settle a few nomination fights. It showed which campaigns had already built durable coalitions, which contests still needed a runoff, and where both parties will try to carry their messages into November.

With 99 percent of votes counted in AP’s live results, the Republican governor’s race was headed to a June 23 runoff between Pamela Evette and Alan Wilson, while Jermaine Johnson secured the Democratic nomination. In the Senate race, Lindsey Graham won the Republican nomination and will face Annie Andrews in the general election, with Libertarian Kasie Whitener also on the ballot. The statewide picture matters because South Carolina has elected only Republican governors since 2003, and Republicans in both the governor’s and Senate contests emphasized their ties to Donald Trump, who remains popular in the state.

That Trump alignment is likely to remain central as the campaigns pivot from primary voters to the broader electorate. Nancy Mace conceded the governor’s race and endorsed Alan Wilson, a signal that the Republican field is already consolidating around the runoff winner. For Democrats, Johnson’s nomination gives the party a clear standard-bearer in a state where it has struggled to break through statewide, even as the Senate contest now offers Annie Andrews a direct contrast with a veteran incumbent.

The congressional results were just as revealing. In South Carolina’s 6th District, James Clyburn cruised to renomination, a sign that his political base remains secure. In the 1st District, AP’s live results showed Nancy Lacore and Mac Deford advancing to a runoff on the Democratic side, while Costa Honeycutt Smith led the Republican contest. That split picture suggests the 1st District will stay one of the state’s most active battlegrounds, with both parties still sorting out which candidate can stretch beyond the base and into a broader general-election coalition.

The calendar adds to the stakes. Candidate filing for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and State House opened March 16 and closed March 30, setting up the June 9 primary, the June 23 runoff and the November 3 general election. AP’s 2026 election calendar frames the midterms as contests that will decide control of Congress, with about one-third of the U.S. Senate and all of the U.S. House on the ballot nationwide. In South Carolina, that means the primary was not the finish line. It was the first clear test of which messages can travel into fall, and which campaigns are already running out of room.