Soon after announcing his run for governor, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson hit the road and began locking down support from some of the most natural allies a state’s top prosecutor could have: law enforcement.
This week, that network crystallized into a show of early political muscle in South Carolina’s 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary.
On July 21, his campaign announced he had secured endorsements from 22 of the state’s 31 Republican sheriffs. And perhaps, most notably, every sheriff in the Lowcountry counties that make up U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s 1st Congressional District: Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort, Colleton and Jasper.
The sweep sends a clear signal to Mace, a potential Republican rival for governor, that Wilson is working to ice out a major competitor before she even enters the race.
Last month, Wilson had already locked down endorsements from three of those sheriffs: Charleston Sheriff Carl Ritchie, Dorchester Sheriff Sam Richardson and Berkeley Sheriff Duane Lewis.