With Sanford out, who are top contenders to succeed Mace in SC’s 1st district
With U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace running for governor instead of reelection, 19 hopefuls are seeking to succeed her in the 1st Congressional District, including 10 Republicans and seven Democrats, with two third-party candidates.
The Lowcountry district includes all or parts of Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties.
But not all candidates truly have a chance in these nomination races. With so many hopefuls on the ballot, the nomination races could end up in June 23 runoffs if no candidates secure a majority of the votes in the June 9 primary. The race gained a little clarity with the exit of former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who dropped out after 30 days as a candidate.
“It’s an open race. It’s an open seat. Members of Congress tend to stay for a long time, and it’s not uncommon for a member to win re-election, five, six, seven or even more times, and so when an open seat comes up, on both sides of the aisle, it’s going to get a lot of candidates to come out and file,” said Jordan Ragusa, a political science professor at the College of Charleston.
The money lead
Money in any campaign is needed to pay staff, buy signs, buy airtime and finance other outreach efforts to voters.
Dr. Sam McCown, a businessman, physician and engineer, had $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of March. However, much of his money came from loans to his own campaign of nearly $1.25 million.
State Rep. Mark Smith, who launched his campaign in August, has raised nearly $727,000 this cycle, and ended the quarter with $548,000 cash on hand.
Charleston County Councilmember Jenny Costa Honeycutt has raised $301,000 for her campaign and had more than $271,000 cash on hand at the end of the first quarter.
Alex Pelbath, who flew the last American plane out during the evacuation out of Kabul when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, has raised $365,000 for his campaign. He had $194,000 cash on hand.
Jay Byars, a Dorchester County Councilmember has raised $214,000 and had $129,000 cash on hand at the end of the first quarter.
On the Democratic side, Nancy Lacore, a former vice admiral in the Navy who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, leads with $578,000 cash on hand. She raised $1 million so far this cycle.
Her cash lead is substantial. The closest Democratic opponent is Mac Deford, who also ran in 2024. He ended the 1st quarter with about $141,000 cash on hand and has raised $394,000 so far during the campaign.
Even though Mayra Rivera-Vazquez has previously been a state Democratic Party second chair, her connections within the party have not led to a fundraising bonanza. She had raised less than $118,000 through the end of March and ended the first quarter with less than $32,000 cash on hand.
Name recognition
Smith launched his campaign a few weeks after Mace kicked off her bid for governor. It allowed him to increase his name recognition in the congressional district beyond his state House district, which falls entirely within 1st Congressional District. A state House district includes about 41,000 people.
Costa launched her bid in November and most of her county council district falls within the congressional district. Her Charleston County Council district, which includes about 37,000 people, has 29 precincts. Of those precincts, 25 of them fall within the 1st Congressional District.
“Honeycutt is certainly a well known name in the Lowcountry,” Ragusa said.
In Dorchester County, 17 out of 18 precincts in Byars’ county council district are also in the 1st Congressional District. A Dorchester County Council district has about 23,000 people.
“The candidates that have won a state legislative race and won a county council race they tend to outperform candidates that have no prior experience or have a lower level elected position,” Ragusa said.
Some of the candidates have been up on the air with advertisements.
Smith released an ad in February, and his campaign and has spent $53,000 on advertising.
The Winning for Women political action committee recently launched a $320,000 ad buy ahead of the primary, to benefit Honeycutt’s bid.
McCown also started putting the money he dropped into his campaign to work. He announced an $860,000 on a media buy in late March into the lowcountry district.
“In a primary election, often it’s about name recognition. You don’t have party ID to differentiate between the candidates, like in a general election, and ideologically, the candidates are often very similar,” Ragusa said.
Candidates have begun touting endorsements.
Smith recently touted endorsements from state Sens. Tom Davis and Larry Grooms, and Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner.
On the Democratic side, Deford recently touted endorsements from North Charleston Councilmember Greg Perry and former Charleston County Democratic Party Chairman Sam Skardon.
Lacore has gained support from among others former Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, state Rep. JA Moore and Democratic National Committee member Kay Koonce.
“Endorsements are a thing that you know can really matter in a primary. If a prominent Republican or a celebrity endorses a candidate, given everything I talked about how voters, often have a tough time differentiating, that can make a world of differences” Ragusa said.
Who filed to run
Democrats
- Francina Dantzler
- Mac Deford
- Max Diaz
- Ben Fraiser
- Matthew Fulmer
- Nancy Lacore
- Mayra Rivera-Vazquez
Republicans
- Dan Brown
- Jay Byars
- Jenny Costa Honeycutt
- Logan Cunningham
- Tyler Dykes
- Kendal Ludden
- Sam McCown
- Alex Pelbath
- Cindy Wagers Riley
- Mark Smith
Third Party Candidates
- Margo Ellis (Alliance Party)
- Bill Reeside (Libertarian Party)
