A crowded race for governor has turned into an all-out fight over Trump's endorsement

The crowded Republican race to be South Carolina’s next governor has erupted into an early, all-out battle to secure Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement.

The crowded Republican race to be South Carolina’s next governor has erupted into an early, all-out battle to secure Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement, with the candidates going to great lengths to grab the president’s attention 10 months before the primary.

That includes everything from personally sending him positive polls and employing his top allies to mimicking his signature catchphrases and policy proposals.

Seeking Trump’s endorsement is hardly a new phenomenon in Republican politics. But what’s notable is how South Carolina’s first open governor’s race in 15 years has so explicitly become a contest about winning the MAGA mantle, as opposed to the issues that once dominated politics in the state, according to interviews with a dozen Republican operatives, strategists and lawmakers.

And the GOP candidates in the ruby-red Palmetto State are hardly shy about admitting that.

“His endorsement is golden,” Rep. Ralph Norman, who launched his governor’s bid in July, told NBC News. “Why do you think everybody wants it?”