The 2018 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of South Carolina. Incumbent Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who took office after Nikki Haley resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, ran for election to a full term. The primary was held on June 12, with the Democrats nominating State Representative James E. Smith Jr. McMaster failed to win a majority of the vote, and then defeated John Warren in the Republican runoff on June 26. In the general election, McMaster defeated Smith, winning election to a full term.
Republicans won their fifth straight gubernatorial election in the state, their longest such streak in history.
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Henry McMaster, incumbent governor
- Running mate: Pamela Evette, businesswoman
Defeated in runoff
- John Warren, businessman
- Running mate: Pat McKinney, businessman
Defeated in primary
- Kevin Bryant, incumbent lieutenant governor
- Yancey McGill, former Democratic lieutenant governor and former Democratic state senator
- Catherine Templeton, attorney, former director of the Department of Health and Environmental Control and former director of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
- Running mate: Walt Wilkins III, Greenville County Solicitor
Declined
- Tom Davis, state senator
- Jeff Duncan, U.S. representative
- Mikee Johnson, businessman and former chairman of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce (endorsed Catherine Templeton)
- Tim Scott, U.S. senator
- Joe Taylor, former South Carolina secretary of commerce
- Billy Wilkins, former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Alan Wilson, attorney general (ran for re-election)
Endorsements
Catherine Templeton
John Warren
- Elise Bidwell, member of South Carolina Educational Television Commission
- Kevin L. Bryant, 91st lieutenant governor of South Carolina and defeated candidate in gubernatorial Republican primary
- Tom Davis, state senator
- Pat McKinney, former chairman of the State Ports Authority, later chosen as Warren's running mate
- Ralph Norman, member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina
- Phil Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty
- Catherine Templeton, businesswoman and defeated candidate in gubernatorial Republican primary
- Knox H. White, mayor of Greenville
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
- James Smith, state representative
- Running mate: Mandy Powers Norrell, state representative
Defeated in primary
- Phil Noble, business and technology consultant and candidate for lieutenant governor in 1994
- Running mate: Gloria Bromell Tinubu, former Atlanta, Georgia, city councilwoman, former Georgia state representative and nominee for SC-07 in 2012 and 2014
- Marguerite Willis, attorney
- Running mate: John Scott, state senator
Declined
- Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia
- Marlon Kimpson, state senator
- Inez Tenenbaum, former State Superintendent of Education, former chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2004
Endorsements
Phil Noble
Independents and third parties
Declared
- Phil Cheney (Independent), former Anderson City Councilman, candidate for SC-03 in 2006 and write-in candidate for SC-05 in 2017
Failed nomination
- Martin Barry (American Party), medication researcher, nomination declined by the American Party
- Running mate: James Cartee, theater director
General election
Endorsements
James Smith (D)
- Joe Biden, 47th vice president of the United States
- Bernie Sanders, U.S. senator (I-VT)
- James Clyburn, U.S. representative (D-SC)
- Robert Barber, former state representative
- Steve Benjamin, current mayor of Columbia
- Floyd Breeland, former state representative
- Margie Bright Matthews, state senator
- Robert Brown, state representative
- Wendell Gilliard, state representative
- Jim Hodges, former governor of South Carolina
- Joe Jefferson, state representative
- Marlon Kimpson, state senator
- Marvin Pendarvis, state representative
- Vic Rawl, chairman of the Charleston County Council
- Joe Riley, former mayor of Charleston, SC
- Richard Riley, former United States Secretary of Education and former governor of South Carolina
- Leon Stavrinakis, state representative
- Mary Tinkler, Charleston County Treasurer and former state representative
- Conservation Voters of South Carolina
- Our Revolution SC
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund
- Sierra Club South Carolina chapter
- South Carolina Equality
- VoteVets.org
Results
By county
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Darlington (largest city: Hartsville)
By congressional district
McMaster won six of seven congressional districts, including one that elected a Democratic representative.