Greenville businessman John Warren appeared out of nowhere in 2018 and scared Governor Henry McMaster in the Republican primaries.
Now there are signs that the retired Navy captain is preparing for a second race next year against the governor.
“I’m clearly not ruling that out,” Warren told Palmetto Politics on Monday after speaking to the East Cooper Republican Club, a traditionally good place to visit before a political campaign.
Warren entered 2018 with virtually no political experience, joining a primary field of five Republican Party candidates that included former state health department director Catherine Templeton and then lieutenant. Gov. Kevin Bryant.
He relied on his military experience on two trips to the Middle East, his outsider status and business know-how, leading the race to overtime and a second round against McMaster, who was defending the chair he took when Nikki Haley became ambassador. of the UN.
What was remarkable about that year is that Warren self-financed much of his campaign, putting in $ 3.3 million of his own money.
He fell short, losing to McMaster by a 56% to 44% margin, a difference of 25,000 votes across the state.
McMaster received a late encouragement from then President Donald Trump, who returned to South Carolina the day before the vote for an endorsement rally.
What’s different this time is that Warren sold his majority stake in his mortgage business, Lima One Capital, to internal partners for an amount he didn’t want to discuss, although he told East Cooper Republicans that it was enough to keep his comfortable family for some time.
“Lima One raised billions of dollars from institutional investors and is on track to bring in $ 1.25 billion in 2019,” wrote BusinessWire in its description of the sale.
Warren also launched his own state political action committee, South Carolina’s Conservative Future. One of his recent moves has been to mobilize around the Statehouse’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill, the largest legislative item in progress. this year for social conservatives.
The bill that is advancing in the Legislature would make abortion illegal if an ultrasound detects a heartbeat, which can be heard in up to six weeks. Abortion would be allowed only to prevent death or serious injury to the woman.
McMaster has already announced that he is prepared to sign the bill if it passes.
What kind of separation is there between McMaster, 73, and Warren, 41, if the race materializes?
Francis Marion University retired political scientist Neal Thigpen, an expert on Republican politics in the state, said that if Warren ran again, he would still be starting a long time ago.
“He was a very admirable candidate, but he will have to undergo a complete overhaul to recover his identification name,” said Thigpen.
Tim Pearson, McMaster’s senior strategist for 2022, said the McMaster campaign will be accelerated in the coming months and that the governor “will run again and win.”
“When it comes to Warren, he has a right to run, of course,” added Pearson, before recalling that Democratic US Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, “proved that you can’t buy a state dispute in South Carolina. “.
McMaster has about $ 780,000 in his electoral account.
Warren was reluctant to discuss much about the next steps. He said his PAC is an ongoing project and does not interfere with anything he wants to do in the coming months.
In addition, he noted that he formally did not enter his first McMaster challenge until a few months before the primary.
So, where are your thoughts?
“I have always felt, personally, that I focus only on what I have to do and less on what the competition is doing,” he said. “It is a better product.”
Reach Schuyler Kropf at 843-937-5551. Follow him on Twitter at @ skropf47.