Nancy Mace gets trounced in South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary after Trump endorsement snub
Rep.Nancy Mace (R-SC) conceded the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary race Tuesday less than two hours after polls closed, as returns showed the firebrand congresswoman trailing Trump-backed Lt.
Gov.Pamela Evette by double digits.“This isn’t the end of the fight, but it is the end of a chapter,” Mace said in her concession speech, during which she endorsed state Attorney General Alan Wilson in a runoff race against Evette.
Mace was garnering only 11.3% of the vote — putting her in fifth place in the GOP field — when she admitted defeat.Meanwhile, Evette held about 29% of the vote, while Wilson was receiving roughly 26% — both advancing to a runoff election.
President Trump endorsed Evette in the race to succeed term-limited Gov.Henry McMaster on May 29, in a massive blow to the four other Republicans in the primary field, including Mace.The competition for the coveted endorsement from the commander-in-chief was fierce and a focal point of the race. Throughout the primary campaign, Mace and Evette, in particular, attempted to position themselves as the most Trump-aligned candidate in the race. Both prominently featured Trump on campaign material well before the president made an endorsement in the race. “It’s good to have President Trump’s back,” Evette said last August, in her first campaign ad of the cycle.
“I’ve backed him from Day One.” Mace, who touts her 2024 congressional campaign endorsement from Trump on her social media and website, accused Evette at the time of misleading voters. “Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP.Do not believe her LIES,” the congresswoman fumed in an X post the same day the president would go on to back Evette in the race. Evette had been the front-runner in the race in the weeks leading up to Trump’s endorsement, according to polling. “Highly Respected and very popular Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, Pam Evette, is an America First Patriot who has been w...