Previous Governors of South Carolina

Henry McMaster has served as Governor of South Carolina since January 2017, when Nikki Haley resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected to a full term in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. He previously served as South Carolina Attorney General and was one of the first major politicians to endorse Donald Trump.

Nimarata Nikki Haley is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018. A Republican, Haley is the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet. She came in second in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries after Donald Trump.

Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019, and as the 115th governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

James Hovis Hodges is an American businessman, attorney, and politician who served as the 114th governor of South Carolina from 1999 to 2003. A former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Hodges is the most recent Democrat to serve as the state's governor.

David Muldrow Beasley is an American politician, law professor, and the former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme. A member of the Republican Party, he served one term as the 113th governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999 before losing reelection to Democrat Jim Hodges. He also served as a state representative from 1981 until 1995.

Carroll Ashmore Campbell Jr., was an American Republican politician who served as the 112th governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995. Prior to this, he served as a member of the South Carolina Senate representing the 2nd district from 1977 to 1978 and as a congressman representing South Carolina's 4th district from 1979 to 1987.

Richard Wilson Riley is an American politician who served as the sixth United States secretary of education from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton and as the 111th governor of South Carolina from 1979 to 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Riley is the only Democrat to serve two consecutive terms as governor in the time since the state constitution was amended to allow governors to serve consecutive terms.

James Burrows Edwards was an American politician and administrator from South Carolina. He was the first Republican to be elected governor of South Carolina since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in the 1870s. He later served as the U.S. secretary of energy under Ronald Reagan.

John Carl West Sr. was a U.S. Democratic Party politician who served as the 109th governor of South Carolina from 1971 to 1975. He served as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1977 to 1981.

Robert Evander McNair Sr. was the 108th governor of South Carolina, a Democrat, who served from 1965 to 1971.