Henry McMaster wins 2018 runoff election over John Warren

Governor Henry McMaster won the 2018 Republican Primary Runoff election over John Warren on Tuesday, June 26.

The incumbent McMaster defeated Warren by just over seven percent, with McMaster receiving 183,820 votes to Warren’s 158,921 votes.

McMaster’s win comes after visits from both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited the state of South Carolina ahead of the June 26 runoff election.

Trump visited Columbia the day before the runoff election while Vice President Pence visited Coastal Carolina University’s campus on Saturday, June 23 to rally support for McMaster.

McMaster won 39 of the 46 counties in the state of South Carolina, including Horry and Georgetown Counties. McMaster won Horry County by a 68.7 percent to 31.3 percent margin and in Georgetown County, McMaster won by a 66.4 margin to 33.6 percent margin. Of the 39 counties that McMaster won, 33 counties had McMaster winning at least 60 percent of the votes.

This was the fourth time in the previous seven Republican Primary Election for Governor had to go to a runoff election. McMaster’s 7.3 percent margin of victory is the smallest margin of victory among the four Republican Primary Runoffs. Nikki Haley’s 30.2 percent runoff win in 2010 was the largest.

All of the previous three Republican Primary Runoff election winners – Nikki Haley, Mark Sanford and David Beasley – all went on to win the gubernatorial election in November.

McMaster will now face off with the Democratic candidate James Smith in the South Carolina Gubernatorial election on Nov. 6, 2018.