Lt. Gov’s run for governor comes to Hilton Head touting plans for SC’s DOGE program

Immigration enforcement, increases in government efficiency, more school choice programs and tax reform were all part of the script on the deck of the Old Oyster Factory on Hilton Head Wednesday night, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette introduced herself and her interest in running for governor to the crowd of nearly 100 people.

Efficiency of SC government and business

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established by executive order and lead by Elon Musk. The organization was tasked with cutting governmental organizations for the purpose of reducing spending. It is still in operation even though Musk has left.

Some of the cuts DOGE made in the Trump administration include the Department of Health and Human Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration —the agency responsible for weather and natural disaster forecasts and the Department of Veteran Affairs.

“How many of you like President Trump’s idea of DOGE? Did you like the fact that he got rid of waste, fraud and abuse?” Evette said to the crowd. “I think we will do the same thing here as your next governor. I think we should personalize it a little bit and call it SCOGE, give it a little South Carolina.”

Evette’s background is in business, not politics, which she is proud of. She started as Lt. Gov with Henry McMaster in 2019. She said her experience in business showed her the importance of efficiency.

Another platform she is running on, she said was regulations on business. Some regulations hurt small-to-medium business and “hurt the free market.” The solution should be to have regulations reevaluated by the general assembly every five years.

“As your next governor, I believe that we should sunset all of our regulations,” Evette said to the town hall. “And every five years, they should come back in front of the General Assembly to be voted on. And if they’re still relevant, so be it. If they are doing what they’re intended to, vote them in again.”

Illegal Immigration and Palmetto Penitentiary

She said President Trump has come to conservative states like South Carolina for support. She said illegal immigration is not as big of a problem in SC.

“And so that’s when the governor started looking at our staff and said, ‘Okay, let’s start looking around South Carolina.’ And I said, ‘I think Palmetto penitentiary has a great has a great ring to it,’” Evette said. “And if we if the President needs us, then that’s what we should do.”

She continued by saying they can use a facility that is already here and that is away from communities to house illegal immigrants before deporting them.

SC Education and growth of business and workforce

Evette calls school-choice, “the hill that (she) will continue to die on.” She said the state should have full universal school choice.

“It’s not just a parent’s responsibility to educate their children,” Evette said. “It’s their right to educate them in the way they want to. And I am really proud that we have continued to move that ball down the road. But it’s something that, as your next governor, I’ll make sure to continue to advocate for until we finally get it across the finish line.”

She also wants to eliminate state income tax. Her plan to do this is to grow business and control spending. This plan won’t be overnight, she admits, but it won’t be a 10-year plan either. Preparing the workforce to bring jobs to South Carolina is part of it, she said. The state’s technical colleges have this responsibility, she said.

“I have made it part of my mission to talk about our technical college system, and I’ll tell you that is one of the biggest crown jewels in our crown of why businesses are coming here, because they are nimble and they can create the workforce of tomorrow,” she said. “I mean, our colleges and universities are creating amazing engineers and researchers and biology and medicine, but our Technical College is creating a workforce, and these are great paying jobs.”

Evette’s support for Trump

Her town hall event was held in front of a banner of a photo of her and Donald Trump. She said one of the things that sets her apart from the other candidates in this race, specifically Nancy Mace, is that she never wavered on support of the president.

As of Sep. 4, no democratic candidates have entered the race for South Carolina’s governor.

“Well, go look back in January of 23, when the President came to the Capitol in South Carolina to announce that he was running for President,” Evette said. “I’m the only one that was there. I was the only one in this governor’s race that stood with the President when there were no polls to say I should do it.”

SC political leaders have been divided on Trump’s handling of the Epstein Files. Evette said she trusts Trump will continue to work to release all the documents.

“I don’t know what are in those files or what could be, but I do trust that President Trump will continue to do, you know he asked to have the files released already, the grand jury files, judges have blocked that,” Evette said. “I think we’re going to continue to see President Trump working towards getting everything out there to people. And I say, let President Trump do what he does, and he will lay it all out there like he does everything else.”

Trump has not endorsed any candidate in the race for South Carolina governor yet.

This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 11:25 AM.