Former ag adviser to the governor elected SC’s next commissioner

COLUMBIA — President Donald Trump’s pick for agriculture commissioner won election Tuesday.

Cody Simpson, a fifth-generation farmer who advised the governor on agricultural issues, won with about 52% of the vote. He defeated Democrat DeShawn Blanding, with 46%, according to unofficial results from the state Election Commission.

“I want to thank you on a very personal note from Home Branch, South Carolina, my family’s farm, where we’ve been farming since 1904,” Simpson told supporters at the GOP election night party at the State Fairgrounds.

“We have now shown the entire world that the American dream is alive and well,” he said. “South Carolina state is strong, and I am so grateful for the unity that we have in this room. We are so proud. I could not be more proud being a South Carolinian than I am right now.”

Also on the ballot were Libertarian Michael Sullens of Anderson and Chris Nelums of Columbia, who ran in the United Citizens Party.

Simpson will be the first new commissioner of agriculture in the state in 22 years. Longtime Commissioner Hugh Weathers, also a Republican, decided to retire this year.

Under the commissioner’s leadership, the Department of Agriculture is responsible for promoting agribusiness, keeping the food supply safe and inspecting all places that sell food, including restaurants and cafeterias.

The commissioner of agriculture is also the state’s topmost advocate for farms, which number more than 22,600 statewide. Agribusiness, which includes agriculture and forestry, remains the state’s top industry, with more than 260,000 jobs, according to the agency.

Simpson grew up in a single-wide trailer outside Manning, on the row crop farm his family has owned and operated since 1904. A longtime supporter of Gov. Henry McMaster, he joined the governor’s office in 2018 and stayed there until 2025, when the Trump administration appointed him as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s executive director for South Carolina.

Simpson preferred to call himself “President Trump’s farmer in South Carolina.”

He left that position in February to run for office, following surprise preliminary endorsements from both McMaster and Trump. He won a four-way primary contest following a runoff vote.

Blanding ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He was the first Democrat to seek the office in 16 years.

As agriculture commissioner, Simpson has said he wants to put licensing and permitting systems online, create an office dedicated to disaster preparedness and recovery, and help farmers get USDA certifications that allow them to sell their products in more markets.

Blanding also hails from rural Clarendon County.

Originally from Manning, Blanding spent a stint in Washington, D.C., working for the agriculture committees in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. He also worked for two nonprofits, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Rural Coalition.

In 2024, Blanding moved back to South Carolina to care for his family and restart his family’s former farm, which his parents sold after his grandfather’s death in the 1990s. He also founded consulting firm AgQuity Solutions.

Blanding had hoped to use the position as commissioner of agriculture to help historically disadvantaged farmers, including Black farmers and those with small farms.

Reporter Katharine Wilson contributed to this report.