Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s four-term Republican attorney general, enters 2026 governor’s race

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Alan Wilson, the four-term Republican attorney general of South Carolina, kicked off his bid for the state’s first open gubernatorial race in 16 years, setting up a 2026 GOP primary contest that’s likely to be a heated competition for President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Wilson held his debut campaign event at Hudson’s Smokehouse in his hometown of Lexington, a barbecue restaurant that has long been a mainstay for both presidential and state-level candidates stumping in South Carolina.

Ahead of that official launch, Wilson sat down for a wide-ranging, hourlong interview with The Associated Press, in which he laid out his vision for the gubernatorial campaign, including reforming South Carolina’s education system, growing the economy and cutting wasteful spending, in the mold of the Department of Government Efficiency that Trump stood up in his administration’s earliest days.

“I’m going to DOGE all of South Carolina government, from the bottom to the top and back down again,” Wilson told the AP on Saturday. “I want as much sunlight and transparency and accountability injected into the operation of government.”

Official filing for the state’s 2026 elections doesn’t open until March, but several other Republicans have already made moves toward running in South Carolina’s first truly open governor’s race in 16 years. State Sen. Josh Kimbrell is set to kick off his bid on Saturday.

Other likely entrants include Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Rep. Nancy Mace, who told the AP earlier this year she was “seriously considering” a run.

These potential Republican hopefuls have supported Trump in his own campaigns — although Kimbrell initially backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — and while Trump’s role in 2026 races is yet to be known, it could have sway in the state where he’s remained popular since his 2016 South Carolina GOP primary win helped cement him as the party’s nominee.

In 2018, Trump helped Gov. Henry McMaster secure a primary runoff win that set him on the path to becoming South Carolina’s longest-serving governor.

“He has been transformational,” Wilson told the AP of Trump, to whom he said he last spoke in December during an event at Mar-a-Lago, saying he would “absolutely” seek Trump’s endorsement.

As South Carolina’s top prosecutor, Wilson has taken actions to support Trump’s political and personal moves. In 2020, he was lead signatory on a letter decrying impeachment proceedings against Trump as “fundamentally flawed as a matter of constitutional law.” Last year, Wilson traveled to New York to support Trump as he stood trial in a hush money case.

Republicans have in recent decades dominated South Carolina’s statewide-elected positions, including governor, meaning that some of the most intense political competition has taken place in GOP primaries. McMaster is term-limited.

As attorney general, Wilson has been part of dozens of lawsuits against Democratic presidents, suing the Biden administration over issues including vaccine mandates and environmental regulations.

Wilson has served three times as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association and has spearheaded other national efforts, including wrangling top prosecutors in all 50 states to urge Congress to craft legislation to guard against the use of artificial intelligence in exploiting children through pornography.

He was in the national spotlight throughout 2023, as his office prosecuted Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced attorney currently serving two life prison sentences for the 2021 murders of his wife and son at the family’s rural home. Attention on the six-week trial swirled into cultlike status, with daily events livestreamed, and true-crime influencers giving regular updates to their followers from the environs near a small-town courthouse in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.

“I wanted the world to see me sitting there owning the success or the failure of that trial, and so whether or not that helps me or hurts me in the next governor’s race, I’ll let the people decide that answer,” Wilson told the AP, when asked about the case. “I have stood on the world stage. … And I believe that under the brightest lights and under the most scrutiny, we’ve acquitted ourselves very well, and that is something that a governor needs to be able to do in South Carolina.”

The son of Rep. Joe Wilson, a longtime South Carolina congressman, Wilson, his wife and their two children live in Lexington, South Carolina. First elected attorney general in 2010, he has served for nearly three decades in the Army National Guard, with the current rank of colonel.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP