Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to 770 attendees at SC GOP’s annual Silver Elephant fundraiser gala in Columbia Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina Republicans attending the party’s annual fundraiser received a surprise phone call Saturday night from a previous keynote speaker — President Donald Trump.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who’s seeking re-election next year, took to the stage of the 58th annual Silver Elephant Gala and held his cellphone to the microphone so the president could speak to the crowd that twice helped elect him to the White House.
The unexpected call upstaged the main speaker for the event: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“I will never forget your great state. South Carolina is a special state, and you’ve made it that way,” Trump told the nearly 770 Republicans in attendance.
Graham never mentioned his own campaign for a fifth term. Instead, he let Trump do the talking about his “full endorsement” of South Carolina’s senior senator.
“He’s a great guy. Every time I needed him, he was there for me, so I just won’t forget it,” Trump said on the call, earning whoops from the crowd.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a contest,” Trump added about Graham’s re-election. “I have a feeling you’re going to do very well.”
The surprise call stemmed from the golf course. Graham said he and former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy played golf with Trump earlier in the day, though he didn’t say where.
“President Trump is an incredibly good golfer,” he said in introducing the call. “I have never played with anybody that consistent all the time.”
During the three-minute call, Trump also gave shout outs to Gov. Henry McMaster, first lady Peggy McMaster and state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick.
As Trump said goodbye and told attendees to have fun, the crowd clapped and cheered. It was the biggest applause of the night.
Trump carried 55% and 58% of the vote in South Carolina in 2016 and 2024, respectively. And even though he did not win the national race in 2020, Trump took 55% of South Carolinians’ vote that year.
The dinner, which cost donors up to $1,000 for a private pre-dinner reception, is the state party’s largest annual fundraiser. When Trump was the keynote speaker in 2023, he drew a record crowd of more than 1,300 people.
Other past headliners include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2021 and former Vice President Mike Pence in 2008, when he was an Indiana congressman. Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan was the speaker in 1967 for the inaugural Silver Elephant. Other former presidents to give the keynote address include Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.
Candidates and endorsements
The gala came a day after former Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer suspended his bid to challenge Graham. Bauer announced his exit on social media just one month after launching his campaign.
Bauer’s departure left two Republicans in the race to unseat Graham. Paul Dans of Charleston, who attended the gala, said Graham’s Trump phone stunt “smacked of desperation.”
“It was a very bad miscue by the Graham campaign to try to force feed this endorsement to the people,” Dans, an architect of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, told reporters at the event.
Graham wasn’t the only 2026 candidate on stage Saturday.
Three other hopefuls “paid to sponsor for the privilege to come to address you beautiful people this evening,” McKissick announced before handing over the mic.
Attendees heard stump speeches from Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is running for governor; state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch of Murrells Inlet, who is running to replace Wilson as attorney general; and state Sen. Wes Climer of Rock Hill, who is running for Congress to replace another gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman of the 5th District.
“For those of you that are still on the fence, I just want the opportunity to earn your vote, earn your trust, to earn an opportunity to serve you as your governor,” Wilson told attendees.
Wilson, who’s in his fourth term as attorney general, was the only candidate among those who paid to speak who has an official GOP opponent for the June 2026 primaries.
So far, five Republicans have announced bids to replace McMaster, who can’t run again. Wilson was the first to hold an official launch event, though the race unofficially started soon after the November elections.
“The governor must not only be an agent of reform and change; the governor cannot be an agent of chaos,” he added.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of the coastal 1st District was the latest Republican to announce her bid, but she’s been pummeling her opponents on social media and at GOP events for months. She’s directed most of her ire at Wilson. Mace did not attend the gala.
Two other gubernatorial candidates — Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Norman, the 5th District congressman — were there but did not address the crowd.
‘Know how to win’
In his main address following the campaign speeches, Youngkin invoked the fighting spirit of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.
He encouraged South Carolina Republicans to follow the Swamp Fox’s lead heading into the 2026 midterms that will decide whether the GOP will continue to control Congress.
“We don’t follow; we lead. And that is my challenge to all of you,” Youngkin said.
“Francis Marion showed all of us how to keep the fight alive,” he added, noting the country is gearing up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Youngkin pointed to the GOP supermajorities in both South Carolina’s House and Senate as a sign Republicans “know how to win” in the Palmetto state.
“And one of our largest missions in 2026 is to extend the majority in our House of Representatives in Washington,” he said. “That is a top priority.”
Youngkin’s election to governor in November 2021 put a Republican at the helm of the Old Dominion State for the first time in more than a decade.
“When you’re on the losing side, the consequences are dire,” Youngkin said. “When you’re on the winning side, Republicans can unleash prosperity and opportunity and lift up every South Carolinian, every Virginian, and every American. And because of those consequences, we have to continue to go to work.”
In his own race, Youngkin focused on education and tapped into parents’ anger over pandemic policies and classroom lessons in his upset win over former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was the former Democratic National Committee chairman and chief fundraiser for the campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
His winning “parents matter” message helped fuel a GOP focus on parents’ rights.
In the wake of COVID-19, Youngkin said businesses were closing.
“We saw parents shut out of their children’s lives, and they were told boldly that parents should not have a role in determining what was being taught in our schools,” he told Silver Elephant attendees Saturday. “And for nearly a decade, more people were moving out of the Commonwealth of Virginia than were moving in.
“Now, a lot of them were moving here to South Carolina,” Youngkin added to laughter from the crowd. “A lot of them are moving here to South Carolina because South Carolina still believes in common sense conservative values: faith, family, and freedom.”
As for Youngkin, his term expires in January 2026. Virigina’s constitution does not allow governors to hold consecutive terms.
There’s some speculation he could make a bid for president in 2028. No mention of that was made Saturday.
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the South Carolina Daily Gazette, which is, like the Virginia Mercury, part of States Newsroom.
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