SC's 1st Congressional District runoffs both won by women, setting up all-female duel in November By Caitlin Byrd 11 hrs ago CHARLESTON — The race to succeed U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in Congress will be fought by two women in November.
Republican County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt and Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, emerged victorious from their respective June 23 runoffs in the coastal 1st Congressional District.
Their showdown will be one of the state’s most closely watched races.
Honeycutt defeated state Rep. Mark Smith, R-Daniel Island, by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin, while Lacore bested attorney and former Coast Guard officer Mac Deford 52 percent-48 percent, according to unofficial returns.
Both nominees used their election night speeches to fire opening salvos in what promises to be a hard-fought general election campaign.
After thanking her family and supporters, Honeycutt said Smith had called to congratulate her and that the two agreed Republicans would need to unite to win in November.
She then quickly turned her attention to Lacore.
"We need a member of Congress who will fight for the Lowcountry. Fight for lower costs, fight for infrastructure improvements, fight for the safety of our families," Honeycutt said. "We need a Lowcountry leader who will win for you. I was raised in the Lowcountry. I'm raising my family here. I will always put the Lowcountry first."
Lacore addressed supporters shortly after 10 p.m., thanking her family, campaign team and voters, as well as several Republicans who endorsed her.
"We have five months to grow a coalition that crosses beyond party lines and political division," Lacore said. "We have five months to prove that integrity still matters and to show our country what leadership grounded in service really looks like."
Lacore said Deford called shortly after the race was called and described him as "very gracious" in his remarks. She quickly pivoted to Honeycutt.
"This district deserves a representative who upholds the Constitution," Lacore said. "If you like the corruption, then Jenny Honeycutt is your candidate."
Their runoff victories capped a sprawling primary season that drew 17 candidates for the open seat — 10 Republicans and seven Democrats — after Mace decided to forgo a fourth term in favor of an ultimately unsuccessful GOP campaign for governor.
Her decision created the district's first open-seat opportunity in years.
The campaign and the ensuing runoffs unfolded without intervention from President Donald Trump, marking a departure from past cycles in which he sought to shape this district's congressional races through a series of endorsements, including in Republican primaries in 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Honeycutt, who has served on Charleston County Council since 2018, leaned heavily on her Lowcountry roots throughout the campaign, even releasing an ad riffing on Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From the Block" to cast herself as the hometown candidate in the race.
She also repeatedly sought to align herself with Trump, despite the president staying out of the contest.
At her election night watch party at the Charleston Crab House on James Island, Honeycutt told The Post and Courier she understood why Trump refrained from endorsing any of the candidates in the race.
“He knows what races to get involved in and what may not be the most helpful in the long run,” Honeycutt said. “Obviously, it might have made a difference for one of us, but I think he knows that both of us will serve the district well.”
She also benefited from support from Winning For Women Action Fund, a Republican group focused on electing conservative women candidates. The organization spent nearly $500,000 to boost Honeycutt and emerged as the largest outside spender in the Republican primary.
For Lacore, the campaign marked an unlikely political debut that began just months after she relocated to the Lowcountry.
The retired Navy vice admiral launched her first bid for public office after she was fired by Hegseth in the summer of 2025. She quickly built a formidable fundraising operation, raising more than $500,000 in her first two weeks as a candidate and drawing support from national groups including EMILY's List and The Bench, a network of veteran Democratic strategists that recruits and advises candidates in competitive and difficult races.
Lacore declined invitations to debate Deford during the runoff, saying she had already delivered her message to voters and did not want to provide a platform for attacks on her military record. Deford, meanwhile, accused her of avoiding scrutiny.
At his election night party at Hobcaw Brewing, Deford gave a brief concession speech. "Obviously, tonight was not what we hoped," he told supporters and urged Democrats to unite behind the party's ticket in November up and down the ballot.
Lacore on primary runoff night traded the hotel ballroom atmosphere of election night two weeks earlier for a smaller gathering at Saint Urban's wine bar in Mount Pleasant's I'On neighborhood, where supporters mingled on the patio on a humid summer evening as cicadas buzzed overhead.
The November contest begins with Republicans holding the advantage, but South Carolina's 1st District remains the closest thing the state has to a swing seat.
The district has long been a reliable Republican stronghold in ruby-red South Carolina, with one brief interruption in 2018 when Democrat Joe Cunningham flipped the seat for the first time in nearly four decades. The district stretches across all of Beaufort and Berkeley counties — Republican strongholds — and parts of Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties.
The coastal region is one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, and the Palmetto State itself was the nation's fastest-growing state in 2025, according to U.S. Census estimates.
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