Ex-DHEC leader to challenge Mace in GOP congressional primary
Catherine Templeton, a former state agency director who ran for governor in 2018, will make a run for Congress.
Templeton plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Isle of Palms, in this year’s Republican primary in the First Congressional District, the Post and Courier first reported. The First District covers the Lowcountry.
Brandon Moody, who will work on Templeton’s campaign, confirmed Templeton will formally launch her campaign on Monday and declined further comment.
It has been expected Mace would face a political challenge in the Republican primary after she was one of eight Republicans to join all the Democrats who voted to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his job in October.
In a video posted on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, Mace said she is in the “fight of my life. I just found out Kevin McCarthy recruited a woman to run against me in the Republican primary.”
Mace points to how Templeton worked on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign and called Templeton a “Never Trumper.”
Mace recently endorsed Trump’s campaign.
Whoever comes out of the Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary which is shaping up to have two competitors: Mac Deford, an attorney and Citadel graduate, and Michael B. Moore, a decedent of Civil War hero Robert Smalls.
Templeton ran for governor in 2018 and finished third in a five-person Republican primary behind Gov. Henry McMaster and Upstate businessman John Warren.
Templeton also served as director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control from 2011 to 2014 when Nikki Haley was governor.
Filing for congressional races begins March 16 and runs until April 1. Primary elections for congressional and state legislative seats are June 11.
This story was originally published January 30, 2024 at 9:00 PM.
