Which SC GOP governor hopeful has most money to spend as June primary nears?
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s campaign went into the final two months before the primary with the most cash on hand, according to state ethics reports filed on Friday.
In the hotly contested race for the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor, the amount of cash on hand a candidate has indicates how long they can keep a bid financially healthy. The number is key as campaigns most likely will spend close to, if not every dollar, they have in order to win the GOP nomination.
Wilson ended the first quarter of year with $1.8 million cash on hand, after bringing in more than $1 million in contributions during the first three months of the year.
“Building up campaign resources is important, but it’s critical to spend wisely,” Campaign Spokesman Woods Wooten said in a news release.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman was in second with $1.6 million in the bank for his campaign, after raising $864,000. That amount however includes a $500,000 loan from himself.
“I’m blessed to have the support of so many people across South Carolina who believe in my mission to clean up Columbia and ensure our state works for our families,” Norman said in a news release.
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette ended the quarter with $931,000 in the bank after raising $1 million for the third quarter in a row.
“Our consistent fundraising dominance shows that voters are eager for a proven business leader who, like President Trump, delivers on promises and will continue the conservative success of the McMaster-Evette Administration,” Evette Campaign spokesman Matthew Goins said in a news release.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who relied heavily on small donor donations, had the most contributions to her campaign during the quarter. However, after raising $564,000, she had $799,000 cash on had at the end of March.
Rom Reddy, the founder of DOGE SC, spent heavily his first two weeks on the trail. After putting $2 million of his own money into his campaign bank account, he ended March with $580,000 cash on hand. Reddy has said he would not accept any contributions.
“Self-governance is making your case to the citizen directly and not clouding the issue with special interest money and endorsements,” Reddy said in a news release when he kicked off his campaign.
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, and Jacqueline Hicks Dubose had not filed first quarter disclosures as of Monday. The deadline to file was April 10, but campaigns have a five-day grace period.
Campaigns in the primary will have to file a pre-primary financial disclosure between May 20 and May 25 ahead of the June 9 primary that serves as a final check on a campaign’s financial health before the election.
If no candidate receives a majority of the vote June 9, the top two voter-getters advanced to a June 23 runoff.
Some notable disclosures in the filings
The family of state Sen. Mike Reichenbach, Wilson’s running mate, gave the campaign $21,000 through six maximum contributions. One from Reichenbach, one from his wife, Charisse, one from their son, Isaiah, and one donation from each of the Reichenbachs’ three car dealerships. A person or a business can give up to $3,500 to a campaign for a statewide office. Reichenbach also largely self-funded his campaign for the state Senate in 2022.
Norman may be second in cash on hand, but it’s buoyed by another infusion of his own money. Norman gave his campaign a third $500,000 loan. Since joining the race, Norman has put $1.5 million of his own cash into his bid for governor.
Evette in the first quarter of the year received donations from more members of the extended McMaster family, including a $3,500 donation from Virginia McMaster, the wife of Henry D. McMaster Jr., the son of the sitting governor. Evette also had a $3,500 donation from state Rep. James Teeple, a potential running mate.
Although Wilson has yet to buy as much television time as other contenders, he had $129,000 worth of media buys. The expenditures through American Media Advocacy Group was for a two-week cable ad buy.
Reddy was a late entrant into the Republican race for governor. He spent heavily to increase his name identification by investing $1.3 million on media placement, according to ethics records.
Evette spent $858,367 on placed media. Norman spent $708,018 on media placement.
Spending money to raise money
The old adage is you have to spend money to make money. For campaigns, they have to spend money to raise money and those fundraising hauls come at a cost.
Evette’s campaign spent $138,771 on fundraising consulting, fundraising emails and merchant fees on platforms such as WinRed.
Mace’s campaign spent $89,269 on fundraising consulting and credit card transaction fees.
Norman spent $47,077 on fundraising services and merchant fees.
Wilson spent $21,680 on fundraising consulting, online processing and a donor acquisition fee.
Returned money
Campaigns sometimes have to return contributions because donors give above the maximum amount, or contributors want to stop a recurring donation. Those transactions are listed as expenditures for a campaign on their disclosures.
Evette’s campaign had $737 worth of refunds and chargebacks.
Norman had to refund $5,176.
Wilson’s campaign had to issue $13,593 worth of refunds.
Mace, who heavily relies on small-donor donations, had 327 “chargeback items” listed on her expenses for more than $24,429.
“We have over 65,000 donations so far for the governor’s race, chargebacks like someone going over the limit and needing a return or a recurring donation that needs to be paused is going to happen when you have that many donors and donations,” Mace spokeswoman Piper Gifford said in an email. “A 0.50% charge back rate is pretty good with this many donors.”
By the numbers
Here are key figures from 1st quarter financial disclosures
Pamela Evette
- Raised: $1,050,019.08
- Spent: $1,222,946.63
- Cash on hand: $931,032.87
- Number of SC contributions: 540
Nancy Mace
- Raised: $564,176.16
- Spent: $627,082.44
- Cash on hand: $799,030.87
- Number of SC contributions: 1,207
Ralph Norman
- Raised: $814,218.06
- Spent: $1,109,025.33
- Cash on hand: $1,589,654.98
- Number of SC contributions: 789
Rom Reddy
- Spent: $1,419,713.52
- Cash on hand: $580,286.48
- Raised: $2,000,000
Alan Wilson
- Raised: $1,059,287.69
- Spent: $601,214.57
- Cash on hand: $1,804,896.36
- Number of SC contributions: 568
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Which SC GOP governor hopeful has most money to spend as June primary nears?."
