2022 South Carolina gubernatorial election

November 8, 2022
Turnout50.9% Decrease
 
Nominee Henry McMaster Joe Cunningham
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Pamela Evette Tally Parham Casey
Popular vote 988,501 692,691
Percentage 58.1% 40.7%

McMaster:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Cunningham:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
     No data
Tie:     50%

Governor before election

Henry McMaster
Republican

Elected Governor

Henry McMaster
Republican

The 2022 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of South Carolina. Incumbent Republican Governor Henry McMaster ran for re-election for a second full term in office and secured the Republican nomination in the June 14 primary. Joe Cunningham, former United States Representative from South Carolina's 1st congressional district, was the Democratic nominee.[1] McMaster won the general election with 58% of the vote — a larger margin than in 2018.

McMaster became the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win Calhoun County since 1994 and the first to win Clarendon County and Dillon County since 1990. This election marks the largest gubernatorial victory in the state since 1990, when incumbent Republican Carroll Campbell won his re-election bid by a margin of 41.7%.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Eliminated in primary

  • Harrison "Trucker Bob" Musselwhite, trucker and Chairman of Legislate Liaison Committee for the Greenville County Republican Party[4]
    • Running mate: Zoe Warren, filmmaker and editor-at-large for The Standard SC[5]

Withdrew

Declined

Endorsements

Henry McMaster
Executive Branch officials
U.S. senators
Governors
Individuals
Organizations

Results

Primary results by county:
  McMaster
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  •   90-100%
South Carolina Gubernatorial Republican Primary Election, 2022
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Henry McMaster (incumbent) 306,555 83.0%
Republican Harrison Musselwhite 61,545 16.7%
Total votes 367,689 100%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

  • Gary Votour, healthcare advocate and retired GIS mapper[25] (running under Labor nomination)[7][26]

Declined

Endorsements

Joe Cunningham
U.S. senators
State representatives
Local officials
Organizations
Newspapers
  • Charleston City Paper[33]
Mia McLeod
State legislators
Individuals
  • Amanda Bonfiglio Cunningham, ex-wife of Joe Cunningham[35]

Results

Primary results by county:
  Cunningham
  •   30-40%
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  McLeod
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   70–80%
South Carolina Gubernatiorial Democratic Primary Election, 2022
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Joe Cunningham 102,315 56.5%
Democratic Mia McLeod 56,084 31.0%
Democratic Carlton Boyd 9,526 5.3%
Democratic William Williams 6,746 3.7%
Democratic Calvin McMillan 6,260 3.5%
Total votes 180,931 100%

Lieutenant governor selection

After winning the primary, on July 18, Cunningham released a shortlist of potential running mates.[36] He announced Tally Parham Casey as his running mate on August 1.[37]

Chosen as running mate

Made shortlist

Declined

Independence primary

Candidates

Declared

  • Jokie Beckett Jr., veteran[7]
  • Michael Copeland[7]

Results

Independence primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Independence Jokie Beckett Jr.
Independence Michael Copeland
Total votes

Independents and third parties

Candidates

Declared

General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[41] Solid R July 26, 2022
Inside Elections[42] Solid R July 22, 2022
Sabato's Crystal Ball[43] Safe R June 29, 2022
Politico[44] Solid R April 1, 2022
RCP[45] Safe R June 8, 2022
Fox News[46] Solid R May 12, 2022
538[47] Solid R July 31, 2022
Elections Daily[48] Safe R November 7, 2022

Endorsements

Henry McMaster (R)
Executive Branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
Governors
Statewide officials
State legislators
  • 34 state representatives[49]
  • 14 state senators[49]
Sheriffs
  • 16 county sheriffs[49]
Local officials
Individuals
Organizations
Joe Cunningham (D)
U.S. senators
State representatives
Local officials
Organizations

Polling

Graphical summary
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[lower-alpha 1]
Margin
of error
Henry
McMaster (R)
Joe
Cunningham (D)
Other Undecided
Echelon Insights (R) August 24 – September 7, 2022 600 (LV) ± 3.7% 50% 44% 6% 0%
Impact Research (D)[upper-alpha 1] August 24–30, 2022 700 (LV) ± 3.7% 49% 42% 4%[lower-alpha 2] 5%
The Trafalgar Group (R) August 25–28, 2022 1,071 (LV) ± 2.9% 51% 43% 2%[lower-alpha 3] 4%
Blueprint Polling (D) August 24–25, 2022 721 (LV) ± 3.7% 50% 39% 1% 9%

Debates and forums

2022 South Carolina gubernatorial debates
No. Date Host Moderator Link Republican Democratic Libertarian Labor
Key:  P  Participant   N  Non-invitee  
Henry McMaster Joe Cunningham Morgan Reeves Gary Votour
[58] Oct 26, 2022 South Carolina ETV Gavin Jackson
Andy Shain
P P N N

Results

The 2022 South Carolina gubernatorial election results by state senate district
State Senate districts results
2022 South Carolina gubernatorial election[59]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican
988,501 58.04% +4.08%
Democratic
692,691 40.67% −5.25%
Libertarian
  • Morgan Bruce Reeves
  • Jessica Ethridge
20,826 1.22% N/A
Write-in 1,174 0.07%
Total votes 1,703,192 100% N/A
Turnout 1,718,626 50.86%
Registered electors 3,379,089
Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

  • 2022 South Carolina elections

Notes

  1. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. Reeves with 4%
  3. Reeves with 2%
Partisan clients
  1. This poll was sponsored by Cunningham's campaign

References

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  3. "Meet Pamela". henrymcmaster.com. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  4. Folks, Will (December 1, 2021). "'Trucker Bob' Running For Governor Of South Carolina". FITSNews. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  5. Folks, Will (December 1, 2021). "'Trucker Bob' Running For Governor Of South Carolina". FITSNews. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  6. Folks, Will (July 27, 2021). "Former Town Councilman From Chester County To Campaign For Governor Of South Carolina". FITSNews. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Gale, Heather; Parkhouse, Emma (March 30, 2022). "Know Your Candidate: A brief look at who is running for the upcoming 2022 election season". ABC 15 News. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
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  10. "A South Carolina Senatorial Shakeup?". FITSNews. June 25, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  11. Frazin, Rachel (August 9, 2019). "GOP Sen. Tim Scott says if he runs in 2022 it will be his last race". The Hill. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
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  35. "Ex-wife of Joe Cunningham endorses Mia McLeod for governor". June 13, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
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  57. "South Carolina Endorsed Candidates". Planned Parenthood. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  58. McMaster, Cunningham set to face off in SC governor debate. How to watch
  59. Results State of South Caroline. Retrieved March 11, 2023
Official campaign websites
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