“I'm very proud of the legacy that the governor and I have together,” said Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette of her political partnership with Governor Henry McMaster, “and that's why I decided to throw my hat in the ring and run as your next governor of the great state of South Carolina.”
Evette was the featured speaker at the First Monday Republican Club luncheon at the Poinsett Club last Monday.
Evette is the first and only female Republican lieutenant governor in the Palmetto State and the only one elected on the same ticket as the governor.
Attaching herself to the accomplishments of the McMaster administration, Evette mentioned several things she and McMaster accomplished during their administration.
“The governor and I gave out the largest pay raise increase to law enforcement in our state's history,” She also said that “we gave the largest state income tax cut in our state's history during our time in office, making sure that we can attract more and more business to the Palmetto State.”
Evette also said that their administration has increased teacher pay. She said that she will pursue full universal school choice in South Carolina if elected to be the next governor.
“The Governor and I,” she continued, “started the Office of Veterans Affairs,” emphasizing her support for veterans. She said that veterans make amazing workers and that she wants them to come back to South Carolina.
Evette praised McMaster for getting a bill passed that would ban any tax money from going to clinics that perform abortions. She also praised the passing of a bill that bans biological males from participating in women's sports.
“South Carolina was the first state to get that done,” she said.
Evette said that McMaster asked her to run on his ticket because she was a businesswoman. Evette said that she got involved in politics because she was inspired by businessman Donald Trump, who proved to her that a businessman could win office.
“I've spent most of my career in the business sector, just like you,” she told her audience of over 100 attendees, adding, “I know the feelings that business owners feel every single day.” She also said, “We need business people with solid business principles running the executive branch.”
Evette started a business in her home, Quality Business Solutions, and over the next 20 years grew it into a national company, bringing in revenues of a billion and a half dollars. She said she became frustrated when she perceived that the government “never brings business to the table.”
Evette offered up several thoughts on what she would like to do if she is elected to be the next occupant of the governor's mansion.
“As governor, I will work to revamp boards and commissions,” she said, “making sure we're putting solid conservatives on every single board and on every single commission.”
Evette would like to eliminate a lot of regulations, saying that regulations stop businesses from growing and keep new ones from coming to the state. She proposes to sunset all regulations and bring them up in front of the General Assembly every five years. “That way we can get rid of the things that aren't working and we could improve upon the things that are,” she said.
“I believe the governor should appoint judges and the Senate should confirm them,” she said, declaring that judges should follow the Constitution and not their political party.
Evette would like to institute a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) similar to the one carried out by the Trump administration at the federal level earlier this year. She said she would call it SCOGE. She also wants to eliminate the income tax and wants to focus in on energy, making sure to keep it efficient and affordable. She also supports closing the primaries.
When asked if she would merely be Governor Henry McMaster 2.0, she replied that there would be new issues to tackle. “The one thing that will stay true is that the both of us are solid conservatives that love this state and that want to see it grow and that want it to be successful. So that part will stay the same, but the challenges will be different.”
When asked what sets her apart from the other candidates in the race, she declared, “I'm a conservative businesswoman, I'm a mother of three, I'm a woman of faith, and that far separates me from the list of career politicians that are running for the governor's race also.”
Evette said that she was “the only candidate running for governor that stood shoulder to shoulder with the president.” She also touted her experience both in business and in the executive branch.
As for Evette's assertion that her opponents are all career politicians (insinuating that she is not), the facts do not quite back up her claim. Ralph Norman first ran for public office in 2004. Alan Wilson first ran for elective office in 2010. Nancy Mace has been in elected office since 2018. Josh Kimbrell first ran for office in 2018. Evette's first foray into politics was also in 2018.
Evette has been in office for as long as both Kimbrell and Mace. Would she also describe herself as a career politician?
What is the definition of a career politician? Evette's two-term running mate, Henry McMaster, has been involved in running for some sort of office, whether for public office or for office in the South Carolina Republican Party, since 1986, nearly forty years. Does McMaster qualify for her definition of a career politician? Although she has classified all of her opponents as “career politicians,” she offered nothing but praise for the longest-serving governor in South Carolina history.
