Policies
McMaster opposes abortion. On February 18, 2021, he signed a bill into law that would ban most abortions. The next day, a federal judge suspended the law until June 2022. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, McMaster said he "looks forward to the day we don't have abortions," and that he would sign any anti-abortion bill that came across his desk.
In 2023, McMaster signed the Heartbeat bill into law, prohibiting abortion after a heartbeat is detected (usually six weeks into pregnancy). The next day, courts blocked the law; McMaster and Republican lawmakers appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court. On August 23, 2023, the state supreme court overrode the block, restoring the stricter prohibition.
On February 6, 2017, McMaster's first major action as governor was to request $5.18 billion from President Trump for South Carolina's infrastructure. Trump made no public statement about McMaster's request. Later in February, McMaster announced, "[the] state government is going to have to go on a diet as far as spending." On May 9, 2017, he vetoed a bill that would have raised the state's gas tax by 12 cents—the largest tax increase in state history—but the South Carolina General Assembly overrode his veto the following day. McMaster said the state had "plenty of money in the system to do all the work on the roads if we would just apply it to the roads that need the work... It's not necessary to put yet another tax on the people of South Carolina." In 2025, McMaster proposed allocating $1.1 billion to state construction projects, one of the largest single-year infrastructure investments in state history.
In 2023, McMaster appointed Democrat Brian J. Gaines as Comptroller General in a recess appointment.
McMaster is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the National Rifle Association, and legislation that gives citizens easy access to firearms. When students led a walkout to protest gun violence and call for stricter gun control a month after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, McMaster called the walkout "shameful" and said it was a "tricky move" orchestrated by "left-wing groups" that were using the students as "tools" to further their agenda. Student activist David Hogg, who survived the Parkland shooting, criticized McMaster, saying in a tweet that "future voters will not reelect you and outlive you too." In 2021, McMaster signed a bill that allows South Carolina's citizens to open carry a firearm with a concealed weapons permit, which required holders to pass a training course and background check. But that requirement was eliminated after McMaster signed legislation in 2024 that allows permit-less open carry. The law also reduced the minimum age for handgun ownership from 21 to 18 and increased penalties for unlawful uses of firearms.
In 2018, McMaster offered to send troops from the South Carolina National Guard to assist Texas in combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking. This came after Trump called for the deployment of thousands of soldiers along the Mexico–United States border, in which border states such as Arizona and New Mexico also participated. In 2023, after a request for assistance by Texas governor Greg Abbott following the expiration of Title 42, McMaster authorized the deployment of South Carolina National Guard troops to Texas. He called the troop mobilization an attempt to "stop the drug cartels, criminals, and terrorists from entering our country to peddle their poison".
In 2024, McMaster joined five other Republican governors (Kay Ivey, Brian Kemp, Tate Reeves, Bill Lee, and Greg Abbott) in a statement opposing the United Auto Workers unionization campaign.
In 1993, as chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, McMaster criticized a bill cosponsored by Senator Fritz Hollings, a Democrat, that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. McMaster said, "I want to know why he sponsored the gay-rights bill that allows homosexuals to be recruited to teach in schools, among other things." In 2006, as attorney general, McMaster successfully led the fight to ban same-sex marriage in South Carolina. He also said that South Carolina should "secede" over Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In an October 2022 gubernatorial debate, McMaster said that if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Obergefell v. Hodges, he would enforce South Carolina's preexisting legislation that banned same-sex marriage. In 2022, he signed a bill that requires student athletes from elementary school to college to play on the team that corresponds to the gender listed on their birth certificates.
Like most governors during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, McMaster declared a state of emergency. On April 20, 2020, McMaster drew criticism for reopening beaches and retail stores five days after South Carolina experienced its highest number of new positive COVID-19 tests, but he did include additional social distancing requirements in his executive order. McMaster said the economy was stalled because of the pandemic and that he anticipated having the economy "humming" by June 2020. By early June, McMaster reopened the majority of the state, though schools remained closed and businesses were required to follow social distancing procedures. Many schools and universities across the country canceled graduation ceremonies, but McMaster urged South Carolina schools to hold ceremonies in a manner that abided by social distancing requirements. He delivered the commencement address at West Florence High School's graduation ceremony and sang "Mull of Kintyre" while playing his guitar.
On June 10, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said that COVID-19 was worse in June than it was when the state was closed in March and April. On average, the number of cases in early June was five to six times higher than in March and April. 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. Bell accused McMaster of intentionally misleading the public about her stance on reopening the economy; she claimed that his staff was "somewhat manipulative" and made it appear that she and other scientists backed his plan to reopen the economy when she did not.
By late June and early July, confirmed cases in South Carolina had risen by as much as 2,000% compared to March and April. Despite pleas from lawmakers and other state officials, McMaster declined to enact a statewide requirement to wear masks, saying that such an order would be unenforceable. Consequently, dozens of municipalities enacted their own mask requirement ordinances, including Columbia, Forest Acres, Greenville, Charleston, Lexington, and most large cities and towns. Bell criticized McMaster's decision and said a statewide mask requirement would be more effective. McMaster responded that a statewide requirement would give a “false sense of security to South Carolinians." Attorney General Alan Wilson noted that ordinances and laws requiring masks are not illegal. On July 10, as the state's COVID-19 cases exceeded 50,000 and nearly 900 deaths, McMaster issued an executive order prohibiting businesses from selling alcohol after 11 p.m. in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus among younger people.
On July 15, McMaster said in an address that South Carolina schools should give parents the option to send students to in-person classes in September 2020. He instructed Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman to reject any school's reopening plan if it did not allow in-person learning. Groups such as the Palmetto State Teachers Association, the S.C. Education Association, and SC for Ed criticized McMaster's order, saying that it "would needlessly jeopardize the health and safety of our state's 800,000 students and more than 50,000 teachers." Several school districts, including Greenville County School District, the state's largest, denounced the order. Spearman, a Republican elected independently of McMaster, also disapproved of his order.
On July 29, McMaster signed an executive order requiring face masks for employees and patrons in all South Carolina restaurants and bars and prohibiting any restaurant from operating at more than 50% capacity, seating tables less than six feet apart, or allowing people to congregate at a bar. By October, McMaster lifted most restrictions and unveiled SC CARES Act grants, a $65 million program aimed at helping small businesses and minority-owned businesses affected by COVID-19.
On December 22, the governor's office announced that McMaster and wife had both tested positive for COVID-19.
In 2021, McMaster said he would block the federal government from sending people door-to-door to promote vaccinations. In September 2021, he criticized federal vaccine requirements, saying, "Biden and the radical Democrats [have] thumbed their noses at the Constitution." McMaster pledged to fight Biden "to the gates of hell" over the vaccine requirement. In 2025-2026, South Carolina was ground zero for the largest measles outbreak since 2000, the year in which measles were declared eliminated in the United States. The outbreak was attributed to low vaccination rates but McMaster did not support revising South Carolina's vaccination exemption policies.
In response to the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, protests flared across the nation. In South Carolina, protests occurred in Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston. Greenville's protests were largely peaceful, but there were some instances of violence in Columbia and Charleston. In Columbia, police cars were torched, shots were fired at police, and businesses were vandalized. In Charleston, protesters stopped traffic on Interstate 26 and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Like President Trump, McMaster said that state and local governments were being too lenient on rioters and looters and was critical of Charleston's initial response. He said to Trump, "We've got to take people out, give them justice, make it more than just the cost of doing business to come into one town, get arrested, pay bond." McMaster mobilized the South Carolina National Guard to be dispatched, if necessary, to halt riots and looting. At Trump's request, he also sent members of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. to aid in larger-scale protests.
