President Donald Trump is looking to hedge his bets and endorse both Republicans in a hotly contested South Carolina race, according to a new report.
Lieutenant Governor Pam Evette narrowly beat Attorney General Alan Wilson in the first round of the Republican primary for South Carolina’s gubernatorial election last week.
Evette, whom Trump endorsed before the June 9 election, and Wilson will now go head-to-head in a June 23 runoff.
It’s unclear whether Trump will back Evette again, but The Washington Post reported Tuesday that he’s considering endorsing both candidates to avoid fighting with conservative activists who support Wilson.
While Trump has yet to make a final decision, one person close to the president said a double endorsement is possible.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Some conservative activists in South Carolina have criticized Evette for not being originally from the South and representing the political status quo that they want to change, according to the Post.
Two candidates from last week’s election, U.S. Representatives Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, have endorsed Wilson, as have some members of the state legislature, the Post reported.
The president is known for boasting about his record of successful Trump-endorsed candidates. But there have been times when the candidate he backed lost, like in Iowa’s gubernatorial Republican primary earlier this month.
After U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra lost to businessman Zach Lahn, Trump claimed he didn’t have enough information when he made his endorsement.
One of the Post’s sources said that the South Carolina runoff is “very close” and that Trump’s team will be “watching numbers closely.”
Evette won the first round of the primary with about 28.9 percent of the vote while Wilson got around 26.1 percent, according to NBC News.
Four people briefed on internal polling told the Post that Wilson had the advantage over Evette heading into the runoff.
