{"id":1944,"date":"2026-06-22T09:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=1944"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:37:15","slug":"stumbo-goldfinch-travel-sc-in-final-days-of-runoff-for-state-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=1944","title":{"rendered":"Stumbo, Goldfinch travel SC in final days of runoff for state attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As voting day in the Republican primary runoff Tuesday neared, coastal state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch and Upstate Solicitor David Stumbo were locked in what could be a tight race for a four-year term as state attorney general.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is really the most important office in the state,\u201d said 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard of Lexington as he stood outside the county courthouse Thursday with three sheriffs to endorse Stumbo, who was making a campaign stop.<\/p>\n

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One sheriff not present: Jay Koon of Lexington County, the sixth most populous county in South Carolina. On Friday, Koon endorsed Goldfinch.<\/p>\n

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Neither Stumbo nor Goldifinch is thev incumbent. The current attorney general, Alan Wilson, is running for governor this year.<\/p>\n

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Whoever wins the Republican primary will almost certainly be the next attorney general, since South Carolina is a heavily red state.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a key job. The attorney general\u2019s office has a total of 381 mostly full-time positions, including 100 attorneys. Its budget last fiscal year was $121 million in state, federal and other funding. The attorney general\u2019s salary is $208,000 per year.<\/p>\n

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The office oversees civil litigation involving the state and supervises the state\u2019s 16 elected solicitors, or criminal prosecutors and their staffs. Its lawyers represent the state in death penalty appeals and oversee the state grand jury, with its broad subpoena powers and multicounty jurisdiction. The lawyers prosecute high-profile criminal cases, such as accused killer Alex Murdaugh\u2019s now-overturned double murder conviction.<\/p>\n

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The office also writes numerous legal opinions every year that, while not having the force of law, serve as guidance to local governments, state agencies and others as to what a court might decide in any given legal situation.<\/p>\n

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And the attorney general has the power to dole out contracts with private attorneys to do legal work for the state that may result in millions of dollars in fees for those lawyers. The possibility of fat payouts makes this race closely watched by many lawyers in the state.<\/p>\n

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Personal backgrounds and experience<\/h2>\n

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On the personal side, both Stumbo, 50, and Goldfinch, 44, are relatively young. Both have beards, meaning the new attorney general will be the first person in more than at least 65 years in the office to have facial growth. They each have a social personality and are at ease talking with people and answering questions from reporters \u2014 not unusual attributes in lawyer-politicians.<\/p>\n

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Both have families \u2014Stumbo and his wife Vanessa have four children, Goldfinch and his wife Renee have two children. Both stress \u201cconservative values.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stumbo lives in Greenwood County; Goldfinch, who is a private attorney, resides in Murrells Inlet in Georgetown County.<\/p>\n

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One difference is their experience with criminal prosecutions in state court.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have over 20 years experience in the legal field, I know the judges in the state, I know the attorneys around the state, and I have good relationships in the General Assembly,\u201d Stumbo told reporters on Thursday. His experience working in the attorney general\u2019s office before he became solicitor will be an asset, he said. \u201cI know that office inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy experience … makes me the most qualified to lead that office for the next four years.,\u201d<\/p>\n

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Before winning election in 2012 as solicitor for Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, and Newberry counties, Stumbo worked seven years in the attorney general\u2019s office on criminal cases including internet crimes against children and four years in the 11th Circuit solicitor\u2019s office prosecuting violent crimes, sexual assaults, child abuse, narcotics, domestic violence and felony DUI cases. He has handled cases with the state grand jury.<\/p>\n

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Goldfinch, who is a captain in the Army National Guard, has prosecuted criminal cases in military courts, which \u2014 unlike South Carolina state and federal courts \u2014 are not readily accessible to the public and press.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve prosecuted major cases that threatened national security while I was on active duty for the Department of Defense and the Army,\u201d said Goldfinch, adding that he has \u201cdone all the same cases that you have in a local solicitor\u2019s circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In his private practice, he handles legal issues opposing what he says are excessive federal regulations, policies and rules, he said.<\/p>\n

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But he certainly will support government regulations when it comes to fighting illegal polluters, Goldfinch said. Currently, he is in court fighting pollution of waterways by PFAS, harmful \u201cforever chemicals\u201d that don\u2019t easily break down in nature, he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne of the things that I despise the most is a corporation that abuses us and our environment,\u201d Goldfinch said. \u201cWhat I want to do away with is regulation that brings an element of cost that is unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His relationships in the Legislature, where since 2013 he has been both a state representative and a state senator, will help get the proper funding for the attorney general\u2019s office so it can be all it can be, he said.<\/p>\n

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Goldfinch says the fact that he is not an elected solicitor will help him be a better attorney general.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m an outsider,\u201d Goldfinch said in an interview. \u201cThe people of South Carolina need to ask themselves if a member of the local solicitors\u2019 boys club should and could objectively oversee his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

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State law gives the attorney general \u201cgeneral supervisory responsibility\u201d over the 16 elected solicitors, and Goldfinch said he will have no problem holding solicitors responsible for criminal case backlogs in their circuit.<\/p>\n

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Why are they running?<\/h2>\n

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Stumbo, in an interview with the S.C. Policy Council, said, \u201cFirst and foremost, why am I running? It\u2019s because I\u2019m an experienced crimefighter ready to get out there to keep our families safe as attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Instead of prosecution experience, Goldfinch\u2019s biographies stresses his entrepreneur background founding a biotechnological company after graduating from The Citadel in 2004, then graduating from the Charleston School of Law in 2010. He then won election to the S.C. House, serving there from 2013 to \u201816. He won election to the S.C. Senate in 2016, where he has served ever since.<\/p>\n

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In his interview with the S.C. Policy Council, Goldfinch said he became a lawyer because, as an entrepreneur, he found himself using lawyers to constantly fight what he says was excessive government regulation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI needed a lawyer in my pocket 24-7 , and so I decided to go to law school,\u201d he said in the interview. His law practice, he said, is \u201c100 percent dedicated today to fighting the government. I fight the government on behalf of businesses. … It\u2019s called administrative law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Other aspects of the two candidates:<\/p>\n

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