SC Republican Nancy Mace draws pair of GOP challengers in closely watched US House race
South Carolina U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace will face a pair of Republican primary challengers who are both casting themselves as conservative, pro-Trump candidates, setting up an intraparty contest that will test how much sway Donald Trump still has over the GOP voter base — and if it’s enough to oust an incumbent here again.
Candidate filing for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District seat closed Wednesday.
The Charleston-anchored, coastal district wraps around much of the Lowcountry and, for the third time in three election cycles, it is one of the state’s most closely watched congressional races.
And, in a possible political first for this seat, all of the Republican and Democratic candidates are women.
The two GOP candidates who are challenging Mace for the Republican nomination are Katie Arrington, a former state lawmaker from Summerville who is making her second run at this seat after losing in 2018; and Lynz Piper-Loomis, a North Charleston military wife who became a vocal and frequent critic of government mandates during the coronavirus pandemic.
Minutes before filing closed, Republican Ingrid Centurion announced she was dropping out of the race due to family health issues. She also gave Arrington her endorsement.
Meanwhile, Democrats already have their nominee.
Dr. Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician who is also in an expert in the field of gun violence prevention, was the lone Democrat to file for this seat after one candidate withdrew from the race earlier this month and another opted not to file.
Mace enters her reelection bid at odds with her party’s former president after she became an outspoken Republican critic of Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Mace has since declared, “I’m gonna win without him.”
Trump has endorsed Arrington in the contest, marking the second time he has supported her candidacy. In 2018, his backing helped Arrington defeat incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, who until then had never lost a political race.
This year, Trump has made ousting Mace a priority.
At a rally in Florence last month, Trump called Mace “crazy” and “a terrible person” who “has no idea what she’s doing.” About two weeks ago, he criticized Fox News for having Mace on its broadcasts, calling her “nasty, disloyal, and bad for the Republican Party.”
Arrington and Piper-Loomis are making Mace’s perceived disloyalty to Trump and, by extension, the GOP, a core part of their respective campaign messages.
In a campaign video posted to social media, Piper-Loomis said Mace “betrayed our nation and our president on Jan. 6, saying he incited violence.”
“I was there boots on the ground listening to his entire speech, where he promoted peace, law and order,” Piper-Loomis said in the spot.
In addition to the two major parties, there are two third-party candidates in the race.
Lucas Devan Faulk has filed as a Labor Party candidate, and Joseph Oddo has filed as a candidate for the Alliance Party.
The Republican primary is set for June 14.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
