Evette said in fundraising appeal she’s SC’s first female Lt. Gov. Not exactly
Republican donors may have received a text message from Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette’s campaign with a link to a fundraising landing page that quoting her saying she is the state’s first female lieutenant governor.
But she wasn’t.
That distinction belongs to Nancy Stevenson, who served as lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983. She was a Democrat who also served as a state representative from the Charleston area from 1975 to 1978.
Evette is the first Republican female lieutenant governor in state history, a factoid included in her official state government biography.
In the fundraising text message, which includes buttons to donate money to her campaign, Evette talks about her grandparents coming to the U.S. “with a pick and shovel, hoping their kin would live the American Dream.” She writes about her father being a tool and die maker.
“Because I come from a long line of gritty, America-loving folk with steel in our spines, I understand, deep in my bones, the power of hard work, the purpose found in serving others, and the promise of the American Dream,” Evette wrote. “Thanks to them, and by the grace of God, I became the first female Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.”
Evette campaign spokesman Matthew Goins called the mistake a minor typographical error. The text message and the fundraising page were written by a vendor hired by the campaign.
Evette has repeatedly said on the stump she is the first female Republican lieutenant governor and first lieutenant governor to run on a ticket with a governor. She’ll then speak about how she is a partner in governing with Gov. Henry McMaster.
Evette is the first lieutenant governor elected under a system where the governor and lieutenant governor run as a ticket. She was picked by McMaster to be his running mate in 2018.
Previously, the governor and lieutenant governor ran separately, with the lieutenant governor presiding over the state Senate. Now the lieutenant governor is entirely in the executive branch, with the Senate president presiding over the upper chamber.
The page was updated and corrected after the error was pointed out by a reporter.
“We’re going 100 mph with ads and all that. It’s a just a minor typo,” Goins said.
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Evette said in fundraising appeal she’s SC’s first female Lt. Gov. Not exactly."
