Nancy Mace Wins GOP Primary, Disrupts Establishment ‘Revenge Tour’

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Lowcountry congresswoman Nancy Mace weathered Washington D.C.’s best attempt to oust her on Tuesday evening – emphatically securing the GOP nomination for a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mace, who has taken controversial stances against both former president Donald Trump and Republican establishment figures, enjoyed a wide margin of victory in her third straight primary win.

With 66.67 percent of precincts reporting, Mace was drawing 57.3 percent of the vote – well above the margin necessary to win the nomination on the first ballot.

Mace’s race was the first stop on ousted GOP house speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s so-called “revenge tour.” While the eschewed speaker hoped to give Mace a taste of her own medicine to repay her for her vote to end his speakership, Mace’s incumbent status and newfound Trump backing propelled her to a comfortable victory over challenger Catherine Templeton – who was drawing only 29 percent of the vote.

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Templeton’s leadership of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) under former governor Nikki Haley propelled her to Palmetto political fame as a self-styled conservative “buzzsaw” – a politician who took pride in reducing bloated bureaucracy.

Templeton tried to ride that reputation to the governor’s office in 2018, but finished in third place behind incumbent Henry McMaster and Upstate businessman John Warren.

Her 2024 congressional bid was propelled by a sizable establishment GOP war chest – but was also defined before it got off the ground by Mace’s campaign. Templeton was also sidetracked by criminal charges filed against her teenage son and former campaign employee, Hampton Brooks Templeton.

Mace enraged the Washington swamp last fall when she joined seven other GOP lawmakers in voting to oust McCarthy. Her response to the status quo’s criticism of her vote? She wore a scarlet letter to the U.S. Capitol.

Prior to that vote, Mace went against GOP leaders on a big debt ceiling vote – and also rebuked them on a spending bill containing what she has referred to as “mass amnesty” provisions.

(Click to view)

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Mace characterized her victory as a repudiation of D.C. insiders’ attempt to foist a candidate they could control upon Lowcountry voters.

“Washington has it completely backwards” Mace said at her victory speech “They think they are in charge of your lives, and anytime someone comes along and calls them out, you get labeled as a rebel.”

“They don’t want their comfortable existence messed with by someone who isn’t impressed with their lofty titles,” she said, reminding her supporters “that Washington is not in charge, you the people are.”

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Mace, 46, is the first woman to graduate from the formerly all-male Citadel military academy. No stranger to staring down adversity – or beating back well-funded political attacks – she was targeted for defeat in 2022 by Trump but won the GOP primary anyway. She also cruised to a landslide reelection in the erstwhile competitive first district against a well-funded, credible Democratic rival.

Mace was also the Republican who recaptured this seat from Democrat Joe Cunningham in the 2020 election.

Count on FITSNews to provide additional analysis of this race as well as multiple other elections that took place in the Palmetto State on Tuesday.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

(Via: Travis Bell)

Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.

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