South Carolina House District 18: Meet your 2026 Candidates

Who's running for South Carolina House of Representatives in District 18? Meet Virginia Maclure, one of the candidates on the ballot in the November 3, 2026 general election. Hear where she stands on the issues facing voters, then share this episode with your neighbors before Election Day. Republican Alan Morgan was invited to participate but did not respond to our numerous requests.

How the interviews worked:

All candidates received the same question at the time of their invitation to join us, and they were given 10 minutes for their interview. Candidates were allowed to bring along a companion, such as a campaign manager, family member, or friend, and to record our session themselves. There were no edits made to the interview.

Candidate links:

• Virginia Maclure

• Sample Ballot

Introduction

Katy Smith:

When you go to the polls on November 3rd or during early voting, you have the chance to vote for important offices such as U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, governor, and state House members. We want to help you get to know your candidates so you can make an informed decision. 

I'm Katy Smith with Greater Good Greenville, and on this episode of Simple Civics Greenville County, we feature an interview with one of your candidates for State House of Representatives, District 18, Democrat Virginia Maclure. Republican Alan Morgan was also invited to join us, but did not respond to our numerous requests to participate. District 18 generally covers northeastern Greenville County, including parts of the Greer and Taylors areas. 

Here's how the interviews worked. All candidates received the same questions at the time of their invitation to join us, and they were given 10 minutes for their interview. Candidates were allowed to bring along a companion, such as a campaign manager, family member, or friend, and to record our session themselves. 

There were no edits made to the interview. We've put links to the participating candidates' preferred internet presence on the episode page. And now Virginia Maclure. I'm pleased to be joined by Virginia Maclure, who is running for South Carolina House District 18. Thanks so much for being here.

Virginia Maclure:

I love coming from the country to the city, so I'm always glad to come to Greenville.

Meet Virginia Maclure: South Carolina House of Representatives District 18 Candidate

Katy Smith:

Thank you. Tell us about yourself and why you're running for this office.

Virginia Maclure:

I am running because I was asked by a member of Annie Andrews' campaign. We were arranging a meet and greet for Annie in our little area of Gowensville in the rural areas, trying to get her into a rural space. And at the end of our conversation, she said, would you consider running for office? And I'd always said never, ever, ever. And I said yes.

I think at that point, I was ready to do something concrete, something more substantial to help Greenvillians, to help South Carolinians, to help with the issues that I've been seeing in our neighborhood, in our little area of Greenville County. And it was just the right time. 

And I was born and raised in Greenville right down the street. I used to ride my moped right past this building, which was something else then. And the movie theater was right here. I worked at the movie theater my whole high school career. 

And I've seen Greenville from the very, very beginning. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The jobs that come, the housing that's come, all the new people, the green spaces that have disappeared, the ones that have come, the black neighborhoods, the historic black neighborhoods that have disappeared, the gentrification, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's all been something that I've been a witness to. And I want to continue to help Greenville to be a part of it in a real, real way. And that's how I got started.

Katy Smith:

Thank you. What do you believe is most on constituents' minds that you can address should you win?

Virginia Maclure:

There are so many problems that everybody's concerned about at this minute. In our area, the people that I have spoken to, we are in such a beautiful, spacious area up in northern Greenville County. I live in Gowensville, and we are focused on saving our land, our farmland, our forest, our green spaces, our historic places. 

And that in one area is what's most important to people, but also their health care is important. What's going to happen to Social Security? We have a lot of retired people, a lot of older people in our area. What's going to happen to Medicare? What's going to happen to Medicaid? Then we've got a lot of veterans that are up in the dark corner, and they're worried about their benefits and what's going to happen if they can't get in the VA hospital.

You just name it. Women's rights, voting rights. We're concerned with everything. I don't see anything as more important than the next. It's just all a big bundle of stuff that we need to come together on and work on. 

And with the success that we've had with our zoning initiative in Gowensville, and the success we've had with the Naturaland Trust of purchasing a 325-acre parcel in the neighborhood to keep it from being developed, that is amazing. And now it's going to be a state park. And we were a vital part of that, our group called Preserve Gowensville. 

Those are exciting things that are happening that we can actually see happening, and not some nebulous idea that's floating out there in space. Yeah, so that's been a great thing.

Katy Smith:

Thank you. What would be your plans to address constituent concerns and interests?

Virginia Maclure:

My plan would be to continue to mine my connections, the groups and the people that I already know, to be able to continue the work we've started and to start work that I haven't started yet. I want to learn new things. I want to find out how to make more change in different areas. 

And I'd love to be able to work with the Democrats and the Republicans that are in the House and the Senate and get on the right committees and have some real change happening and pass some bills, learn and learn and learn. I just want to learn a lot. 

I read a lot. I watch a lot of the sessions that they have when they're speaking at the Capitol. And I've learned a lot through those things about what they're discussing, how they're discussing it. And I feel like it's a real opportunity to bring a different vision, one that's open and wanting to see a change and help make that change in South Carolina and Greenville.

Katy Smith:

Thank you. We have a little bit more time. Is there anything else you'd like to share with listeners?

Virginia Maclure:

I would like to say that women have been a really big factor in these races in Greenville County. And we can bring a lot more to the table than people have thought in the past. 

And I've been really energized and happy to see so many women in our meetings that we have, in our conferences, the things that I've been invited to, and they're very energetic and very happy and have tons of great ideas. And I'm just really proud that they asked me to run, and I'm proud that I was able to say yes, and I'm very looking forward to it.

Katy Smith:

Thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for your willingness to serve.

Virginia Maclure:

Thank you.