This page is in progress with
2026 Candidates.

Updated June 14, 2025

Meet the 2026
Democratic
Candidates

The 2025 elections are all local/municipal and non-partisan. Official filing begins in August. As a rule, we don’t list Democratic-leaning candidates, because that makes them a target for the maga-right.

Several candidates for the 2026 Democratic Primary (held in June 2026) have announced, and several spoke at the SCDP Convention on May 31 in Columbia. We will list the candidates here and update the list as we learn about them. Meanwhile, you can watch our Convention coverage, with speeches from all the current candidates at the convention here.

Note that the official filing period for candidates for office in South Carolina will be between noon on March 16, 2026, and noon on March 30, 2026, so until then we can only list candidates who have announced their intentiion to run, or taken other steps like forming exploratory committees and initiating fundraising.

On this page:

Statewide Offices

Governor

The Governor and Lt. Governor offices – and all other SC ‘Executive’ offices – are up for election in 2026, beginning with the Primary in June. Incumbent Governor Republican Henry McMaster is term-limited and cannot run in the 2026 election (but he can run again in 2030 – the term limitation prohibits holding office in more than two consecutive terms). As of (June 13, 2025), news reports list:

  • Sean Bennett (Republican, state senator)

  • Pamela Evette (Republican, Lieutenant Governor)

  • Nancy Mace (Republican, U.S. Representative)

  • Ralph Norman (Republican, U.S. Representative)

  • Alan Wilson (Republican, South Carolina Attorney General)

Here are the announced Democratic Party Candidates:

Jermaine Johnson, currently serving in the SC House, has announced an ‘exploratory committee’ with the intention of running for Governor.

He spoke at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025

At the SCDP Convention, the chair called for gubernatorial candidate Justin Bennet. Bennet was not present, but he does have a YouTube channel and a LinkTree for his candidacy.

Lieutenant Governor

The Lieutenent Governor runs on the same ticket as the Governor

The incumbent Lt. Governor, Republican Pamela Evette, is expected to run for Governor.

Attorney General

incumbent Attorney General, Republican Alan Wilson, is on the list of potential candidates for Governr. No Democrats have announced an intention to run.

The State newspaper ran a story that saidn “Longtime Democratic Solicitor David Pascoe…, announced Thursday he is switching parties and becoming a Republican. The move was widely seen as a first step for Pascoe to run for attorney general in the 2026 Republican primary if incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson decides, as expected, not to run for re-election and instead seek the governor’s office.

Secretary of State

No candidates have announced as of (June 13, 2025).

Commissioner of Agriculture

WCBT TV (Columbia) reports, “With Republican Hugh Weathers opting not to seek another term as the state’s agriculture commissioner, …Midlands businessman Fred West, a Batesburg-Leesville resident and current director of market development at the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, announced his campaign on March 18 with a promise to promote conservative policies at the agency.”

No Democrats have announced for the office.

Comptroller General

No candidates have announced as of (June 13, 2025).

Superintendent of Education

The incumbent is highly partisan and equally unquallified Republican Ellen Weaver. We made a campaign video about here in 2022.

Sylvia Wright is running for Superintendent of Education in 2026.

She spoke at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025

Treasurer

Iincumbent state Treasurer, Republican Curtis Loftis, has been embroiled in controversy over a $1.8 billion “accounting error” in state funds. Some of his fellow Republicans have called for him to resign, while others support him. He has waffled on whether or not he will seek reelection.

No Democrats have announced their intention to run for Treasurer as of (June 13, 2025).

US Senate

US Senators serve six-year terms. In 2026, Republican Lindsey Graham will be up for re-election in 2026. Republican Tim Scott will be up for re-election in 2028. A Primary date hasn’t been set yet,, but it will be in June, 2026.

Democratic candidates are listed below. As of (June 23, 2025), Lindsay Graham and
Mark Lynch have filed for the Republican nomination, and Jack Ellison and Reece Wright-McDonald have filed as independends.

Dr. Annie Andrews has announced her candidacy for US Senate. Here’s her speech at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025

Catherine Fleming Bruce is making her second bid for US Senate. Here’s her speech at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025.

Kyle Freeman is running for US Senate. Here’s his speech at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025.

Lee Johnson is running for US Senate. Here’s his speech at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025.

Regional Offices

US House
of Representatives

All of York County is included in US House District 5. The incumbent is Republican Ralph Norman, who is possibly looking to run for Governor in 2026.

Here are the candidates competing for the 2026 Democratic Party nomination:

Alex Harper is running for US House, District 5. Here’s his speech at the SCDP Convention on May 31, 2025.

The remaining offices in this section serve only parts of York County. See the York County Political Maps section of this website to see the various political subdivisions.

State Senate

There are no State Senate offices up for eleciton in 2026. The South Carolina State Senate elections follow a four-year cycle, with the next one due in 2028. There are no term limits for state Senate seats.

There are four South Carolina Senate districts that include part of York County: 14, 15 16 and 17. District 15 is located entirely within the County.

State House of Representatives

State House seats are elected every two years, so all House members are up for reelection in 2026. There are no term limits for House seats.

There are eight South Carolina House Districts that include parts of York County: 26, 29, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 66.

John R King is the incumbent Democrat in District 49. The other incumbents are Republicans.

Below are State House races with Democratic candidates:

SC House District 49
Rep. John King (Rock Hill)

John has represented SC House District 49 since 2009. He ran unopposed for the seat in 2024, and facing only write-in oppositon, he received 98% of the vote

We are continuing to update this web page with information on the 2026 Election.

The information below has not been updated, and is left over from the 2024 election.

16th Circuit Solicitor's Office

The Solicitor is the chief prosecuting attorney within a judicial circuit. South Carolina has sixteen judicial circuits which are comprised of two or more counties within the State. The 16th Circuit covers York and Union Counties.

Republican Kevin Brackett, the incumbent, defeated Tyler Bratton in the Republican primary. The partisan office has a four-year term. He has no Democratic opposition, and the winner of the November election with 98% of the vote (write-ins are possible).

County Offices

The offices below serve only York County (or parts of York County).

See a full list of all political office holders serving York County (at the Federal, State and County level) here.

County Council

There are seven York County Council Districts. Council members serve 4-year terms. Three will be elected in 2026: Districts 3, 4 and 7

We will update this information soon.

York County
School Boards

There are four School Districts in York County. Each ‘seat’ is non-partisan (in theory). The YCDP does not endorse candidates in non-partisan elections, and we won’t be listing candidates here. Candidate filing runs from August 1 – August 15, so this election was not part of the June Primary. Sevral candidate forums (recorded on YouTube) have been held, letting candidates present their platforms. This one has indexing for each candidate (only two were unable to participate).

Elections are held in even-numbered years, with staggered four-year terms. More info here.

Soil and Water
Conservation District Commission

The Commission consists of a board of five nonpartisan commissioners. There is a discrepancy between the York County website and the Commission’s own website. The County website says:

The Commission is comprised of five member seats, voted countywide, with staggered four-year terms. Three seats appear on the ballot during a Presidential election and two seats appear on the ballot during a Gubernatorial election.

The Commission’s website (which appears to be out of date), shows that three of the Commissioners are elected, while two are appointed.

While the Commission’s website does seem to be out of date (it lists Commissioners who’s terms expired in 2022), it appears to be correct about having three elected Commissioners and two appointed Commissioners. That’s based on York County’s Elected Representatives web page, which shows only three elected officials for Soil and Water. One of them, Peggy Palmer, is up for election this year.

However, no one has filed to run for Soil and Water Commissioner. Nevertheless, Catherine White is reported to have won the election according to SCVotes.gov. We remain confused.

Watershed Conservation Districts

We have a lot of people looking after our water, it seems. In addition to the Soil and Water folks, there are two Watershed Conservation Districts serving York County.

Each Commission is comprised of five member seats with staggered four-year terms. Only voters that live in the these districts will see these offices on their ballots. Three seats will appear on the ballot during a Presidential election and two seats appear on the ballot during a Gubernatorial election. The offices are nonpartisan, so we won’t be following the candidates.

Fishing Creek Watershed District 13
The Fishing Creek Watershed lies west of Rock Hill (map).

Tinker's Creek Watershed District 33
The Tinker’s Creek is south of Rock Hill and the Watershed District includes both York and Chester Counties.