McMaster visits Pavilion one day before South Carolina primary

Candidates for state and local office packed the campaign trail Monday ahead of this week's elections, including stops in the Myrtle Beach area.

Gov. Henry McMaster, who is competing for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in this week's primaries, kicked off his Election Day eve at the old Pavilion site in Myrtle Beach as crews continued to breakdown the Carolina Country Music Festival.

"When you have a coach and a winning team like this, you don't fire the coach and hire a rookie," McMaster said.

The sitting governor will also appear in Mt. Pleasant, Greenville and Columbia ahead of Tuesday's vote. He was joined in Myrtle Beach by local officials including Mayor Brenda Bethune, Horry County Councilman Tyler Servant, state representatives Jeff Johnson and Alan Clemons and state senators Greg Hembree and Luke Rankin.

McMaster's challengers were also out in full force Monday.

John Warren appeared in Conway on Sunday and in Pawley's Island on Monday morning. Catherine Templeton had Monday rallies scheduled in Greenville, West Columbia and Mt. Pleasant.

Democratic hopeful James Smith was scheduled to make appearances in Greenville, Spartanburg, Florence, North Charleston and Columbia. Phil Noble was set to spend Monday making stops through the the Lowcountry. Marguerite Willis told reporters during a weekend campaign event in Columbia that she'll spend the lead-up to election day whipping votes in the Pee Dee.

The governorship isn't the only race up for grabs Tuesday.

In Horry County, sitting County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus is running against Johnny Gardner in the Republican primary for the county council chair position. Voters in District Two will have the chance to chose between incumbent Bill Howard and Dean Pappas as the Republican nominee for their county council seat. Voters in District Seven will decide the Democratic nomination for their seat, choosing between incumbent Harold Phillip and Lee Sherman.

Incumbent Rep. Tom Rice will look to take the first step towards keeping his seat representing District 7 in Congress in a Republican primary race against challenger Larry Guy Hammond. Democrats will decide on their nominee as well, choosing between Bruce Fischer, Bill Hopkins, Mal Hyman and Robert Williams.

Incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson will face two Republican primary challengers in Todd Atwater and William Herlong. Incumbent Secretary of State Mark Hammond is in a similar position, facing off against three challengers in the Republican primary. He's challenged by Nelson Faerber, Joshua Putnam and Kerry Wood

South Carolina voters can only vote in one party's primaries. This means that for positions where only one party is running a primary, voters who chose the other party won't have a say in this round of voting.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and voters need a photo ID to vote.

This story was originally published June 11, 2018 at 12:50 PM with the headline "McMaster visits Pavilion one day before South Carolina primary."