John Warren gets endorsed by Catherine Templeton and Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)–  Two former GOP candidates hope to change the tide after endorsing John Warren for the nomination, rather than his opponent, current Governor Henry McMaster. Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant and Catherine Templeton are fully behind John Warren, that could put his numbers above the 50% margin, which would make him the GOP Candidate in November.    

“If you voted for me, you should vote for John Warren now because he is a conservative, outsider, businessperson and he’s a Christian,” Templeton said. 

“We’ve got to change the coach because South Carolinians are not winning,” Warren said.  Warren called this a unification of the conservative party. He cited that 58% of South Carolinians voted against Henry McMaster.

“We like Henry, but Henry’s the past. And John Warren is the future,” Templeton said.

Warren cited what he called McMaster’s failures, including the $4-Billion Santee Cooper fiasco, being at the bottom when it comes to Education, poor maintenance with roads, being overtaxed and putting government funds towards Planned Parenthood,”

“John Warren supports defunding Planned Parenthood, and not sending one penny of your tax dollars to evil organizations like Planned Parenthood,” Bryant said.

McMaster’s campaign said the endorsements didn’t come as a surprise, but they are going to continue running with what they call a ‘positive’ campaign.

“Twenty-thousand new jobs, 6-billion jobs in capital investment. That’s what we’re touting,” Pamela Evette said, McMaster’s running mate. 

A spokesperson for the McMaster campaign said: “The governor is proud to have the support of Donald Trump.”

“Relationships matter and our governor has an amazing relationship with the president. When you can pick up the phone and have the president take your call, that’s good for the people of South Carolina,” Evette said. 

“I think if the only thing that you have to brag about on your record is the fact that the President has endorsed you, it’s a short record of accomplishment. And when you look at my record it’s much more similar to Donald Trump than someone who’s been tied to Richard Quinn for 30 years, someone who’s been a part of the Columbia Swamp for 30 years,” Warren said.

“Henry McMaster is not Donald Trump. We want someone who’s going to fight for us and not worry about his allies and his 30-year career,” Templeton said.

If you combine Warren, Templeton and Bryant’s votes from Tuesday, Warren would be ahead by about 7%. But it all depends on who comes out and votes on the 26th.