Rep. Nancy Mace secured a victory in the Republican primary in South Carolina, boosted by strong performance in Charleston County and key counties she had lost in the previous primary. Mace’s role in ousting Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in 2023 has garnered national attention. She was able to avoid a runoff and secure her party’s nomination for another term in Congress.
Mace faced competition from candidates Catherine Templeton and William Young in the race for South Carolina’s 1st District. Templeton, who had the support of Newt Gingrich and Rep. Joe Wilson, served as the director of the state’s labor agency under then-Gov. Nikki Haley. On the other hand, Mace had the backing of former President Donald Trump and current Speaker Mike Johnson. Mace’s victory was called by the Associated Press at 8:40 p.m. ET after the poll closing time at 7 p.m. ET.
The AP determined Mace’s victory based on an early lead she took after polls closed, especially in her home county of Berkeley and other counties she had lost in the 2022 primary. As the votes were counted, Mace maintained her lead in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, while Templeton took the lead in Jasper county. Mace’s share of the vote in Berkeley and Dorchester exceeded her 2022 primary vote share by more than 10 percentage points.
The final county to report results was Beaufort, where Mace was ahead of Templeton but with less than 50% of the vote, slightly behind her pace in the 2022 primary. At the time of the AP declaring her the winner, Mace had about 58% of the districtwide vote with less than a third of the estimated vote counted. This put her beyond the risk of falling below the 50% mark and forcing a runoff. Templeton, with about 31% of the vote, would have needed to beat Mace by a significant margin in the remaining votes, which was deemed unrealistic.
Mace’s lead over Templeton was significant among both pre-election day advance votes and votes cast on election day. She maintained a larger lead among election day votes, which would help her maintain or expand her lead as more votes were tabulated. With Young garnering about 14% of the vote, Templeton’s chances of overtaking Mace were slim. Overall, Mace’s strong performance in key counties and her lead in the election day votes sealed her victory in the Republican primary in South Carolina’s 1st District.
