This list of candidates has been referred to as the Evette LG short list. Representative Jordan Pace, who was placed her short list, remains neutral and refuses to endorse Evette.
Lt. Gov. Pam Evette on Thursday evening posted a video to X naming nine South Carolina Republicans she is considering as her running mate for lieutenant governor, should she win the GOP gubernatorial nomination in Tuesday’s runoff.
By Friday morning, SC State Rep. Jordan Pace of Berkeley County — one of the nine, and the current chairman of the SC House Freedom Caucus — had issued a formal press release confirming he will not endorse either Evette or Attorney General Alan Wilson in the June 23 runoff. Pace’s statement makes clear the decision was not a reaction to being placed on the list. He had communicated his neutrality to both campaigns after the June 9 primary, before Evette’s video posted.
Two of the nine represent Horry County: County Council member Tyler Servant of District 5 and SC Rep. Case Brittain of District 107.
Understanding the Evette LG Short List
What Evette announced
Evette’s video identified the nine in alphabetical order with no published ranking: SC Rep. Case Brittain of Myrtle Beach; SC Rep. Patrick Haddon of Greenville County; former SC Rep. Adam Morgan, the House Freedom Caucus’s co-founder and past chairman; Pace, the current chairman; SC House Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope of York County; Joe Semsar, a former Trump-administration undersecretary of commerce; Servant, who chairs the Horry County Council’s administration committee and runs Surfside Realty Co.; Hood Temple, a Florence attorney; and SC Rep. James Teeple of Johns Island. These candidates are part of what is being called the Evette LG short list.
Evette told viewers any of the nine would make “an outstanding lieutenant governor,” according to Live 5 News. ABC Columbia paraphrased her criteria as requiring “a rock solid conservative” who supports President Donald Trump and is “business minded.
The video also closed a door Trump had opened weeks earlier. “To be very clear — as I’ve said before, and will say again — Henry D. McMaster Jr. will not be my running mate,” Evette said. Trump had floated McMaster Jr., son of Gov. Henry McMaster, when he endorsed Evette on May 29 via Truth Social. McMaster Jr. declined consideration on June 5, saying “now is simply not the right time” and adding, “I am Team Evette all the way.”
The list dropped days before Tuesday’s runoff, after early voting closed.
Pace’s statement
Pace’s Friday press release, distributed publicly through his @Jscottpace account on X, ran three paragraphs. He opened with his primary endorsement.
“I proudly endorsed Congressman Ralph Norman for Governor early in the race because I believe strongly in his leadership and vision for South Carolina,” Pace said. “After last week’s primary results, I communicated directly with both Lt. Governor Evette’s and Attorney General Wilson’s campaigns that I did not intend to endorse either side in the runoff. My position remains the same — I am not endorsing in this race.”
Pace addressed Evette’s short list in his next paragraph. I am grateful to have been included on Lt. Governor Evette’s list that she is considering for Lieutenant Governor,” he said. “There are many strong conservatives on the list which is encouraging.”
He closed by reframing the day’s news around the caucus he leads. The real story here is the success and growing influence of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus,” Pace said. It is a testament to our principled fight for smaller government, free markets, traditional family values, and individual liberty that both candidates for Governor in this runoff are speaking positively about Freedom Caucus priorities and that the current and past chairmen of our caucus are under serious consideration for Lieutenant Governor. This is validation that our message is resonating and advancing the conservative cause in South Carolina — no matter who wins the nomination.
On the same X account, Pace added a caption: “What a time to be in SC politics! Grateful to be considered and proud of the impact that @SCFreedomCaucus continues to make!”
The Horry County names
Servant, whose District 5 covers Surfside Beach, Garden City, Murrells Inlet and the Burgess area, has publicly endorsed Evette. Lt. Governor Evette is a proven conservative leader and I am proud to support her,” Servant said. “This is a reflection of the hard work the people of Horry County have put in. We’ve been in her corner from the beginning.” Servant chairs the County Council’s administration committee, which oversees finance, and runs Surfside Realty Co. as its chief executive.
Brittain, who represents SC House District 107 in Myrtle Beach, accepted consideration favorably in his comments to outlets carrying the short list, though he stopped short of endorsing Evette’s campaign.
The split — one outright endorsement, one favorable acceptance — illustrates the range of postures inside Evette’s list.
Who is Jordan Pace
Pace was first elected to SC House District 117 in 2022, defeating Democratic incumbent Krystle Matthews, and was re-elected unopposed in 2024. His district is anchored in Berkeley County, in the Summerville-Goose Creek area, roughly 110 miles south of Myrtle Beach.
He has chaired the SC House Freedom Caucus since July 26, 2024, succeeding Adam Morgan after Morgan’s loss in the SC-3 U.S. House primary. Morgan, who co-founded the caucus, also appears on Evette’s short list — the detail Pace cited as evidence of the caucus’s reach.
Pace is a graduate of Charleston Southern University and works in commercial real estate. He co-sponsored the 2023 SC Prenatal Equal Protection Act and sits on the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee.
The SC House Freedom Caucus, formed in 2022, sits to the right of the broader House Republican Caucus on spending and regulation. Pace’s framing Friday — that both runoff candidates are “speaking positively about Freedom Caucus priorities” — is the caucus’s preferred read of the race.
Pace’s prior endorsement
Pace’s neutrality follows an endorsement that did not survive the primary. Congressman Ralph Norman, the Rock Hill Republican, finished third on June 9 with roughly 17 percent of the vote, behind Evette at approximately 29 percent and Wilson at approximately 26 percent.
Norman has since endorsed Wilson, the outgoing four-term attorney general who is running for governor and is not seeking re-election as AG. Pace’s Friday statement acknowledges his Norman endorsement as a matter of record without addressing Norman’s subsequent endorsement of Wilson. “My position remains the same — I am not endorsing in this race,” Pace said.
How South Carolina picks a lieutenant governor
South Carolina pairs the governor and lieutenant governor on a joint ticket — a structure ratified by voters as Amendment 1 in November 2012 and first applied to the 2018 general election.
SC Code Section 7-11-12 sets the mechanics. The gubernatorial nominee must designate a running mate in writing, filed with the state party, no later than August 1 of the general-election year. The LG designee must file qualification documents no later than August 10 and must possess every qualification required to be governor.
Wilson is the outlier in this cycle. He designated state Sen. Mike Reichenbach of Senate District 31, covering parts of Darlington and Florence counties, on January 9, 2026 — months before the primary. Evette’s post-primary timing, with a short list released after the field had narrowed to two, is the more typical pattern.
The Wilson campaign side
Wilson appears on the runoff ballot opposite Evette on Tuesday. His campaign confirmed the Reichenbach designation in January and has not announced any change since the primary. Norman endorsed Wilson on Monday, June 15
Trump’s role
Trump endorsed Evette on May 29, 11 days before the primary, in a Truth Social post calling her “an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning” and “the only South Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate to Endorse me as soon as I launched my 2024 Presidential Campaign.
In the same post, Trump suggested McMaster Jr. as Evette’s running mate. McMaster Jr. declined publicly on June 5. Evette closed the door on the pairing herself in Thursday’s video.
No public Trump endorsement of Wilson has surfaced in this cycle, and no Trump statement on Evette’s short list had surfaced as of Friday morning.
Transparency disclosures
The verbatim Pace statement above was distributed by the principal as a press-release image on his @Jscottpace X account; MBSC transcribed the release from that source. Cross-source carriage by Post and Courier, Live 5 News, SC Public Radio, ABC News 4, ABC Columbia, WIS, WRDW, and MyHorryNews used compressed excerpts; MBSC publishes the full release here.
Evette’s statements quoted in this article are drawn from her Thursday evening X video as carried by Live 5 News and ABC Columbia.
Conclusion
Evette’s nine-name short list and Pace’s Friday statement leave several questions open ahead of Tuesday’s vote. The list does not bind Evette to any of the nine — SC Code Section 7-11-12 gives the eventual nominee until August 1 to designate a running mate in writing. Whether Pace’s neutrality holds through the general, whether Servant’s endorsement converts into a formal Grand Strand surrogate role, and whether Wilson responds with a list of his own are all questions Tuesday’s result will sharpen.
For Horry County voters, the short list is a reminder that two of their elected officials are in serious statewide consideration with four days to go.
## Further Reading
Evette LG Short List – Rep. Jordan Pace press release, June 19, 2026, via @Jscottpace on X
Evette LG Short List – Lt. Gov. Pam Evette short-list video, June 18, 2026, via her gubernatorial campaign’s X account
Evette LG Short List – Post and Courier coverage of Evette’s nine-name LG short list
Evette LG Short List – Live 5 News coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – SC Public Radio coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – ABC News 4 coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – ABC Columbia coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – WIS News 10 coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – WRDW News 12 coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
Evette LG Short List – MyHorryNews coverage of Evette’s short-list announcement
– SC Code Section 7-11-12 — designation of lieutenant governor running mate
– South Carolina Constitution Amendment 1 (2012) — joint ticket for governor and lieutenant governor
– Henry McMaster Jr. statement declining LG consideration, June 5, 2026
– Donald J. Trump endorsement of Pam Evette, Truth Social, May 29, 2026
– Wilson-Reichenbach LG designation coverage, January 9, 2026
– Ballotpedia biography of Jordan Pace
– Ballotpedia biography of Pam Evette
– SC Daily Gazette coverage of post-primary gubernatorial endorsements
