South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has raised more than $5 million in his pursuit of a second full term, bringing in more than $600,000 in the first fundraising quarter of this year.
That's according to data released Monday by the Republican's campaign.
The incumbent faces two opponents in the June primary, although neither has undertaken significant fundraising. As of the end of last year, Harrison Musselwhite had raised just under $11,000. Mindy Steele reported around $4,000 on this quarter's filing.
If he wins in November, McMaster will become South Carolina's longest-serving governor, thanks to the two years he served following Nikki Haley's resignation to join then President Donald Trump's administration as U.N. ambassador. McMaster is a longtime ally of Trump, who has backed him in this year's election.
No Democrat has won the state's top office since 1998. McMaster won his 2018 contest over Democrat James Smith by 8 percentage points.
As of this month, McMaster and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, had about $3.2 million in their campaign account, a figure that can largely be held over until the general election, unless one of the other Republicans in the race starts bringing in more money.
Democrat Joe Cunningham — the former one-term congressman now seeking the state's top job — has raised about $1.7 million over the course of his entire campaign to unseat McMaster. In the June primary, Cunningham brought in $400,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to this campaign, ending it with $536,000.
There are several other Democrats in the race, although only one of them, state Sen. Mia McLeod, has raised any significant money. The Richland County lawmaker had raised $359,000 over the course of her campaign, ending 2021 with $115,000 on hand. She had not posted her latest figures or responded to messages on her totals as of Monday afternoon.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.