South Carolina state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch on Monday entered the 2026 race for attorney general, becoming the first Republican to launch a bid to be the state's top prosecutor.
Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, 42, announced his bid in Murrells Inlet, two weeks after Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson launched his campaign for governor.
"As attorney general, I will get between the citizenry, the people out there, and the bureaucrats. I'm going to get in the way. I'm going to get in the way, and I'm going to stop that from happening," Goldfinch, standing with his wife and two children, said to the crowd. "We need an attorney that's not scared of the federal government. We need an attorney general that's going to step up and that's going to say, 'No more. South Carolina likes its conservative policies."
The Georgetown Republican represents Senate District 34, which covers portions of coastal Georgetown and Horry counties. Goldfinch was first elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms in the S.C. House.
Goldfinch was born in Conway.
An attorney and small business owner, Goldfinch is a captain in the South Carolina Army National Guard. He is a graduate of The Citadel and Charleston School of Law.
Goldfinch's campaign said in a release it will focus on four areas: law and order, limited government, military leadership and conservative values.
In the Statehouse, Goldfinch has been critical of beach regulations he says infringe on private property rights. And he sponsored a resolution to create somewhat of an Elon Musk DOGE-style committee.
This year, he also held a key role in the Senate's efforts to investigate and remove Republican Treasurer Curtis Loftis over the $1.8 billion accounting error.
Other Republican candidates are expected to jump into the race.
They include Henry McMaster Jr., the son of Gov. Henry McMaster, and 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe and 8th Circuit Solicitor Dave Stumbo.
