1. Henry Dargan McMaster was born on May 27,1947 and is an American politician and attorney serving since 2017 as the 117th governor of South Carolina.
71 Facts About Henry McMaster
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Henry McMaster was the Republican nominee for the US Senate in South Carolina in 1986, losing to incumbent Democrat Fritz Hollings.
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Henry McMaster was then defeated for lieutenant governor of South Carolina by Democrat Nick Theodore in 1990.
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Henry McMaster chaired the South Carolina Republican Party from 1993 to 2002.
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Henry McMaster was elected attorney general in 2002 and reelected in 2006.
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In 2010, Henry McMaster ran for governor but lost to Nikki Haley in the Republican primary.
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Henry McMaster was then elected lieutenant governor of South Carolina under Haley's governorship in 2014.
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Henry McMaster succeeded to the office of governor in 2017 when Haley resigned to become US ambassador to the United Nations.
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Henry McMaster won a full four-year term in the 2018 gubernatorial election after narrowly winning a runoff for the Republican nomination and defeating Democratic nominee James E Smith Jr.
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Henry McMaster won reelection against Democratic nominee Joe Cunningham in 2022.
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On January 29,2025, Henry McMaster was recognized as South Carolina's longest-serving governor.
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Henry McMaster was born on May 27,1947, in Columbia, South Carolina.
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Henry McMaster is the eldest son of John Gregg and Ida Dargan McMaster.
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Henry McMaster received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of South Carolina in 1969, and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.
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Henry McMaster served in the United States Army Reserves, receiving an honorable discharge in 1975.
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Henry McMaster was admitted to practice before the federal Court of Claims in 1974, before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1975, and upon Thurmond's motion, before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1978.
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Henry McMaster practiced law for almost 29 years, both as a federal prosecutor and in private practice, representing clients in the state and federal courts, trial and appellate.
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Henry McMaster headed the South Carolina Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee from 1981 to 1985.
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Henry McMaster held numerous press conferences during the operation and gained publicity through interviews and comments.
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Henry McMaster's actions were criticized as political, with journalist Lee Bandy writing, "no one can recall any other US attorney being so public-relations conscious" and noting that McMaster had held more press conferences and news releases than all his predecessors combined.
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Henry McMaster completed his term as US attorney on December 31,1985.
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Henry McMaster lost the general election in a landslide to four-term Democratic incumbent Fritz Hollings, 463,354 votes to 261,394.
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Henry McMaster defeated Sherry Shealy Martschink in the Republican primary, 49,463 votes to 46,660, but again lost to the Democratic incumbent.
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Henry McMaster received 309,038 votes to Nick Theodore's 440,844.
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Henry McMaster served on the board of directors of the nonprofit South Carolina Policy Council from 1991 to 2003, serving as board chairman from 1992 to 1993.
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On May 8,1993, Henry McMaster was elected chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.
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Henry McMaster was reelected by the State Republican Convention in 1996,1998 and 2000.
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On March 28,2002, Henry McMaster announced his resignation as party chairman so that he could run for attorney general.
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Henry McMaster defeated Richter in the runoff, 162,014 votes to 128,271.
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Henry McMaster was reelected in 2006, unopposed in both the Republican primary and the general election.
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In 2010 Henry McMaster ran for governor, but finished third in the Republican primary with 71,187 votes, ahead of Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer's 52,324 but behind US representative Gresham Barrett's 91,461 and state representative Nikki Haley's 205,360.
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Henry McMaster immediately endorsed Haley, who had been the front-runner throughout the race and defeated Barrett in the runoff by a landslide.
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On January 6,2015, the Ethics Commission of South Carolina accused Henry McMaster of accepting about $70,000 in donations to his 2010 campaign for governor, exceeding South Carolina's limit for donations by $51,850.
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The commission released documents stating that Henry McMaster accepted these extra funds to help settle campaign debt.
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In September 2015, the commission refused to dismiss the complaint and Henry McMaster's attorney indicated Henry McMaster was likely to settle.
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Henry McMaster filed to run for lieutenant governor of South Carolina on March 27,2014.
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Henry McMaster was elected on a separate ticket from Governor Haley, the last time a lieutenant governor was elected in this manner; as of 2018, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket.
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Henry McMaster claimed to be the first elected politician in the United States to support Trump.
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Later that day, she resigned as governor and Henry McMaster assumed the governorship.
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Henry McMaster served the remainder of Haley's term, which expired in January 2019.
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Henry McMaster placed first in the June 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary with 155,072 votes.
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Henry McMaster ran for reelection in 2022 and secured the Republican nomination in the June 14 primary.
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Henry McMaster defeated the Democratic nominee, Joe Cunningham, in the general election.
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Henry McMaster has endorsed Lindsey Graham in the 2026 United States Senate race, and is serving in a leadership capacity on Graham's campaign team.
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In 2023, Henry McMaster signed the Heartbeat bill into law, prohibiting abortion after a heartbeat is detected.
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Henry McMaster is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, the National Rifle Association of America, and legislation that gives citizens easy access to firearms.
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In 2018, Henry McMaster offered to send troops from the South Carolina National Guard to assist Texas in combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
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In 2023, after a request for assistance by Texas governor Greg Abbott following the expiration of Title 42, Henry McMaster authorized the deployment of South Carolina National Guard troops to Texas.
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Henry McMaster called the troop mobilization an attempt to "stop the drug cartels, criminals, and terrorists from entering our country to peddle their poison".
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In 2024, Henry McMaster joined five other Republican governors in a statement opposing the United Auto Workers unionization campaign.
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Henry McMaster said that South Carolina should "secede" over Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
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Henry McMaster said the economy was stalled because of the pandemic and that he anticipated having the economy "humming" by June 2020.
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Many schools and universities across the country canceled graduation ceremonies, but Henry McMaster urged South Carolina schools to hold ceremonies in a manner that abided by social distancing requirements.
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Henry McMaster delivered the commencement address at West Florence High School's graduation ceremony and sang "Mull of Kintyre" while playing his guitar.
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Henry McMaster said, "it is up to the people to determine what kind of precautions need to be followed," indicating that he would not place any more restrictions on businesses and public facilities.
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On July 15, Henry McMaster said in an address that South Carolina schools should give parents the option to send students to in-person classes in September 2020.
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Henry McMaster instructed Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman to reject any school's reopening plan if it did not allow in-person learning.
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Spearman, a Republican elected independently of Henry McMaster, disapproved of his order.
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In 2021, Henry McMaster said he would block the federal government from sending people door-to-door to promote vaccinations.
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Henry McMaster has not been implicated in Pascoe's corruption probe, but four state legislators have been indicted as part of it as of May 2017.
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Henry McMaster likewise ceased to use Quinn in advance of his 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
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Henry McMaster announced that he sought to use $32 billion, or two thirds, of South Carolina's $48 billion allotment on private school vouchers, and that 5,000 grants to private schools would be made with the federal relief money.
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Henry McMaster's decision received harsh criticism from educators and politicians around the state.
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Henry McMaster's supporters argued that parents should have a choice about where to send their children.
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Henry McMaster has been an advocate of preserving the Gullah culture, an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in South Carolina's Lowcountry region.
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Henry McMaster has been married to Peggy Henry McMaster since 1978.
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Henry McMaster has reportedly paid over $16,000 in fines for ordinance violations.
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Henry McMaster has suggested that the fines were accrued because tenants trashed the properties.
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In December 2023, Henry McMaster's office announced that he would undergo an outpatient medical procedure.
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Henry McMaster ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1986, for lieutenant governor in 1990, and for governor in 2010.
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Henry McMaster was elected attorney general in 2002 and 2006, lieutenant governor in 2014, and governor in 2018 and 2022.