SC Democrat raises $200K in first 24 hours of congressional race against Rep. Nancy Mace
Democrat Annie Andrews on Tuesday announced she raised more than $200,000 in the first 24 hours of her South Carolina congressional campaign, a haul that gives the pediatrician and first-time political candidate from Mount Pleasant a formidable fundraising debut as she seeks her party’s nomination in the 2022 race against Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace.
Year-end public fundraising disclosures are not due until January, when the sources of Andrews’ campaign dollars in the 1st Congressional District race will be revealed. But the 24-hour fundraising total suggests Democrats are not giving up on the coastal congressional seat that has changed party control twice in the last two election cycles.
A review of past federal fundraising totals show that Andrews raised more money in the first 24 hours of launching her congressional campaign than Democrat Joe Cunningham did in his entire first-quarter fundraising haul when he first ran for the same seat three years ago.
Cunningham stunned the nation in 2018 when voters in this reliably Republican district elected a Democrat to represent their interests in Washington for the first time in nearly 40 years. He raised $105,000 during his first fundraising quarter. Andrews, by comparison, raised nearly double that amount in her campaign’s first 24 hours.
In another sign that Andrews has gotten the quick attention of voters, her campaign announcement video has now been watched more than 1.5 million times on Twitter alone.
“These early numbers prove that the people of the Lowcountry are ready for a change in leadership and ready to send a pediatrician to Congress who will cut through the gridlock and deliver real results for the district,” Andrews said in a statement, before taking a swipe at Mace.
“Unlike our current representative,” Andrews said, “I’m not interested in being famous or climbing the political ladder. I just want to solve the biggest challenges facing the Lowcountry and then come back home and be a doctor and a mom.”
The Andrews campaign is being overseen by Tyler Jones, the same Democratic strategist who helped Cunningham make history in 2018. In 2020, Cunningham lost his seat in Congress to Mace, putting the district back in Republican hands.
Cunningham has now set his sights on the 2022 governor’s race and is one of three Democrats vying for the chance to take on Gov. Henry McMaster next year.
After voters elected Mace in 2020, political analysts characterized the win as a recalibration, and a return to the district’s usual GOP voting habits in a presidential election year.
S.C. Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson said Andrews’ early fundraising burst sends a message.
“The 1st Congressional District is going to consistently be a swing district that Democrats can win, especially in a non-presidential cycle,” Robertson said, adding, “People have simply had enough of Trumpism and Nancy Mace’s form of Trumpism.”
Robertson also hinted that more Democrats could be stepping forward to announce their campaigns in the 1st Congressional District contest, but he declined to say on the record who those future candidates might be.
“It’s exciting that there are people who are looking at this congressional seat and that the people who are looking to make substantial investments in campaigns are taking these candidates seriously because, four years ago, they wouldn’t have,” he said, referring to the district’s political dynamics before the 2018 contest.
Mace, the first Republican woman ever elected to Congress from South Carolina, has already drawn at least three Republican challengers in next June’s GOP primary: Iraq War veteran T.J. Allen, retired Army officer Ingrid Centurion, and military wife Lynz Piper-Loomis.
However, in her first congressional reelection campaign, Mace is proving to be a formidable fundraiser in her own right as an incumbent fighting to hold onto her seat as she faces a flank of challengers from the right, many of whom are running as self-proclaimed “America First” candidates.
The latest quarterly fundraising totals show Mace has raised more than any other South Carolina U.S. House candidate running in 2022. So far, Mace has raised almost $2.4 million for next year’s reelection and has about $1.4 million cash in her war chest, federal election reports show.
Those totals far outpace her closest primary challenger in the race for campaign dollars, Piper-Loomis.
Piper-Loomis reported about $7,460 cash on hand as of the end of September. In all, she has reported receiving more than $41,700 in contributions.
Asked whether the latest fundraising totals by Andrews reflect a competitive contest ahead in the 1st Congressional District, Mace’s campaign issued a two-sentence statement from the congresswoman.
“Serving in Congress is the honor of my lifetime,” Mace said. “I look forward to continuing to serve the 1st District.”
Analysts at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, an independent publication that analyzes U.S. elections, campaigns and political trends, have not yet determined how competitive they think the upcoming 2022 contest will be in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District since states are still finalizing new redistricting maps.
A surge in new residents along South Carolina’s coast in the 2020 census is expected to influence how lawmakers draw the maps for the 2022 election.
The district was previously drawn to favor Republicans. It includes all or sections of Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort and Colleton counties.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 2:25 PM.
