Stumbo, Goldfinch travel SC in final days of runoff for state attorney general

As voting day in the Republican primary runoff Tuesday neared, coastal state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch and Upstate Solicitor David Stumbo were locked in what could be a tight race for a four-year term as state attorney general.

“This is really the most important office in the state,” said 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard of Lexington as he stood outside the county courthouse Thursday with three sheriffs to endorse Stumbo, who was making a campaign stop.

One sheriff not present: Jay Koon of Lexington County, the sixth most populous county in South Carolina. On Friday, Koon endorsed Goldfinch.

Neither Stumbo nor Goldifinch is thev incumbent. The current attorney general, Alan Wilson, is running for governor this year.

Whoever wins the Republican primary will almost certainly be the next attorney general, since South Carolina is a heavily red state.

It’s a key job. The attorney general’s office has a total of 381 mostly full-time positions, including 100 attorneys. Its budget last fiscal year was $121 million in state, federal and other funding. The attorney general’s salary is $208,000 per year.

The office oversees civil litigation involving the state and supervises the state’s 16 elected solicitors, or criminal prosecutors and their staffs. Its lawyers represent the state in death penalty appeals and oversee the state grand jury, with its broad subpoena powers and multicounty jurisdiction. The lawyers prosecute high-profile criminal cases, such as accused killer Alex Murdaugh’s now-overturned double murder conviction.

The office also writes numerous legal opinions every year that, while not having the force of law, serve as guidance to local governments, state agencies and others as to what a court might decide in any given legal situation.

And the attorney general has the power to dole out contracts with private attorneys to do legal work for the state that may result in millions of dollars in fees for those lawyers. The possibility of fat payouts makes this race closely watched by many lawyers in the state.

Personal backgrounds and experience

On the personal side, both Stumbo, 50, and Goldfinch, 44, are relatively young. Both have beards, meaning the new attorney general will be the first person in more than at least 65 years in the office to have facial growth. They each have a social personality and are at ease talking with people and answering questions from reporters — not unusual attributes in lawyer-politicians.

Both have families —Stumbo and his wife Vanessa have four children, Goldfinch and his wife Renee have two children. Both stress “conservative values.”

Stumbo lives in Greenwood County; Goldfinch, who is a private attorney, resides in Murrells Inlet in Georgetown County.

One difference is their experience with criminal prosecutions in state court.

“I have over 20 years experience in the legal field, I know the judges in the state, I know the attorneys around the state, and I have good relationships in the General Assembly,” Stumbo told reporters on Thursday. His experience working in the attorney general’s office before he became solicitor will be an asset, he said. “I know that office inside out.”

“My experience ... makes me the most qualified to lead that office for the next four years.,”

Before winning election in 2012 as solicitor for Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, and Newberry counties, Stumbo worked seven years in the attorney general’s office on criminal cases including internet crimes against children and four years in the 11th Circuit solicitor’s office prosecuting violent crimes, sexual assaults, child abuse, narcotics, domestic violence and felony DUI cases. He has handled cases with the state grand jury.

Goldfinch, who is a captain in the Army National Guard, has prosecuted criminal cases in military courts, which — unlike South Carolina state and federal courts — are not readily accessible to the public and press.

“I’ve prosecuted major cases that threatened national security while I was on active duty for the Department of Defense and the Army,” said Goldfinch, adding that he has “done all the same cases that you have in a local solicitor’s circuit.”

In his private practice, he handles legal issues opposing what he says are excessive federal regulations, policies and rules, he said.

But he certainly will support government regulations when it comes to fighting illegal polluters, Goldfinch said. Currently, he is in court fighting pollution of waterways by PFAS, harmful “forever chemicals” that don’t easily break down in nature, he said.

“One of the things that I despise the most is a corporation that abuses us and our environment,” Goldfinch said. “What I want to do away with is regulation that brings an element of cost that is unnecessary.”

His relationships in the Legislature, where since 2013 he has been both a state representative and a state senator, will help get the proper funding for the attorney general’s office so it can be all it can be, he said.

Goldfinch says the fact that he is not an elected solicitor will help him be a better attorney general.

“I’m an outsider,” Goldfinch said in an interview. “The people of South Carolina need to ask themselves if a member of the local solicitors’ boys club should and could objectively oversee his friends.”

State law gives the attorney general “general supervisory responsibility” over the 16 elected solicitors, and Goldfinch said he will have no problem holding solicitors responsible for criminal case backlogs in their circuit.

Why are they running?

Stumbo, in an interview with the S.C. Policy Council, said, “First and foremost, why am I running? It’s because I’m an experienced crimefighter ready to get out there to keep our families safe as attorney general.”

Instead of prosecution experience, Goldfinch’s biographies stresses his entrepreneur background founding a biotechnological company after graduating from The Citadel in 2004, then graduating from the Charleston School of Law in 2010. He then won election to the S.C. House, serving there from 2013 to ‘16. He won election to the S.C. Senate in 2016, where he has served ever since.

In his interview with the S.C. Policy Council, Goldfinch said he became a lawyer because, as an entrepreneur, he found himself using lawyers to constantly fight what he says was excessive government regulation.

“I needed a lawyer in my pocket 24-7 , and so I decided to go to law school,” he said in the interview. His law practice, he said, is “100 percent dedicated today to fighting the government. I fight the government on behalf of businesses. ... It’s called administrative law.”

Other aspects of the two candidates:

• Through late May, Goldfinch had raised $981,707. Stumbo had raised $543,712.
• Stumbo said in a debate earlier this month he is not in favor of making medical marijuana available in South Carolina but is in favor of having tests for impaired drivers that would note whether someone has ingested or inhaled marijuana. “We don’t even have a threshold for impairment,” he told reporters on Thursday.
• In the same debate, Goldfinch said making marijuana legal in South Carolina “is a moot point” because marijuana products are freely sold in South Carolina nowadays. “Everybody is using the stuff, and it’s a real problem. ... It needs to be regulated.”
• Both candidates generally favor a new way to pick state trial and appellate judges — by having the governor nominate candidates and then having them go through a confirmation process in the Legislature.
• Both candidates say they will make public the contracts the attorney general’s office has with private lawyers.

Endorsements

Stumbo has endorsements from 22 of the state’s 46 sheriffs and 10 of the state’s 16 solicitors.

Goldfinch has endorsements from 10 sheriffs, one sheriff-elect and no solicitors.

Stumbo has endorsements from six state senators and 23 House members.

Goldfinch has endorsements from 15 state senators and 26 House members.

“Even though my opponent is in the state senate, I have six state senators endorsing me and I have over 20 House members endorsing me,” Stumbo said. “I know how to work with people to get things done.“

Goldfinch’s endorsements also include 10 of the 12 members of the Horry County council and U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, R-SC.

Stumbo also won an endorsement from David Pascoe, the 1st Circuit Solicitor who placed third in the June 9 GOP primary vote for attorney general, and from U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-SC, who was defeated in the June 9 primary in his bid to be governor.

The populous Horry County is a Goldfinch stronghold — he won Horry (pronounced OH-ree), the state’s largest in land area — with 25,438 votes. Stumbo and Pascoe each got about 6,400 votes each.

Greenville County is Stumbo’s biggest vote bastion. There, he won 26,152 votes compared with Goldfinch (16,854 votes) and Pascoe (10,857).

On June 9, Goldfinch won 176,045 votes, leading Stumbo, who got 157,00 votes, by some 19,000 votes.

How Pascoe voters break in the June 23 runoff will be a deciding factor. In the June 9 primary, Pascoe won enough voters — 107,185 — that his voters can potentially decide the race.

What others say

Lexington Solicitor Hubbard said at the Thursday press conference that he has known Stumbo for more than 20 years, including when Stumbo worked for Hubbard in the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s office.

“Who our next attorney general will be is critical,” Hubbard said. “It’s one of the most powerful positions in this state because it’s the one that’s most consequential.

Whoever is in the attorney general’s post sets the tone of public safety in South Carolina, Hubbard said. “Businesses in our community won’t thrive if crime is running amok. Schools, and the kids in our schools won’t be safe if crime is out of control. The lifestyles we lead are determined so much by whether we prosecute crime.”

Stumbo is the best man for the job, Hubbard said, praising Stumbo as a “career prosecutor” and Goldfinch as a “career politician.”

“Do we want a lawyer-legislator who has benefitted from that system or do you want somebody who has seen the flaws and can address them? The one person in this race that can deal with these issues is David Stumbo,” Hubbard told reporters.

On Saturday, Goldfinch walked through downtown Columbia’s Main Street at Soda City with Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, who is supporting him.

Rickenmann said he met Goldfinch in the General Assembly years ago when the mayor was working to get laws passed that would help the city of Columbia.

“He’s a wonderful public servant. He’s really done a great job looking out for the people of South Carolina,” Rickenmann said. Goldfinch has been especially helpful in making government more transparent, Rickenmann said.

“Just because he’s not from the capital city doesn’t mean we don’t need advocates,” Rickenmann said.

It has been more than 30 years since a Democrat, Travis McLeod, held the office of attorney general.

However, there is a Democrat this year running for the post: Richard Hricik, a Mount Pleasant personal injury lawyer. Hricik will run against whoever wins the attorney general runoff.

On Saturday, Stumbo fell ill and was hospitalized.

He published this note Saturday afternoon on social media:

“I woke up not feeling right this morning, and my wife — who’s a good deal wiser than I am — told me to go get checked out. The doctor decided to admit me to the hospital to be safe and taken care of right away. I’m in good hands, in good spirits, and they are ensuring me I’ll be at full strength for Tuesday!

“I’m following the doctor’s orders to the letter, and I’m not slowing down on what matters: earning the trust and the votes of South Carolinians who want a proven prosecutor as their next Attorney General. Polls are open Tuesday, June 23rd — I’ll see you there.”

Stumbo was back out on the campaign trail Monday and “feeling great,” he said via text message.

This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Stumbo, Goldfinch travel SC in final days of runoff for state attorney general."