Costa Honeycutt, Lacore clinch nominations to November battle for Mace’s seat

Two women are the last major candidates standing in a once-crowded field to represent the Lowcountry in Congress, facing off in a district Democrats hope to flip blue.

Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt won her chance to represent South Carolina’s 1st District on Tuesday, entering into a November showdown with Nancy Lacore, winner of the Democratic runoff, to replace U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in Congress.

Costa Honeycutt defeated state Rep. Mark Smith by nearly eight points, carrying strong support in Charleston County.

99% of the votes had been counted by 11:22 p.m. Tuesday. All results are unofficial, for live reporting, visit scvotes.org.

A Charleston County councilwoman since 2019, Costa Honeycutt’s precinct mostly resides in the 1st District. She has aligned herself closely with President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, promising conservative stances on immigration and LGBTQ+ issues, but has emphasized her record of local public service.

“I’m still processing it, but I can tell you I am ready for November,” Costa Honeycutt said of the win. “Yes, there is a brief excitement over the victory, but we know that this is a marathon, not a sprint. We are just getting started.”

She pointed to her election to Charleston County Council in the midst of the 2018 midterms as evidence she could sway independent voters in November.

“I have demonstrated that I can win an even seat, and we’re going to do exactly the same thing again,” Costa Honeycutt said.

Costa Honeycutt has largely steered clear of attacking Smith, who painted her as less concerned with affordability. But she did criticize his absence from a vote to redraw the state’s congressional map, casting it as a break with Trump’s agenda. Smith was absent and did not choose to abstain.

Costa Honeycutt thanked Smith for calling her to express support in the general election.

In campaign advertisements, Smith cited Costa Honeycutt’s vote to extend an existing half-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements in Charleston as a “$4-billion tax hike.” If approved by voters in November, the tax could generate $4.25 billion over a 25-year period for county transportation and green space initiatives.

Smith tried to build off the momentum gathering behind Attorney General Alan Wilson’s campaign, snapping photos together at the Summerville Farmer’s Market on Saturday and endorsing him for governor ahead of the runoff.

Costa Honeycutt and Smith debated face-to-face June 17, mildly clashing over strategies to balance the budget, but friction reached a high between Democratic candidates when runoff winner Nancy Lacore refused public debate ahead of the election.

Lacore, a former admiral fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, triumphed over Deford by more than four points, according to scvotes.org, pulling in support from Berkeley and Colleton counties.

99% of the votes had been counted by 11:22 p.m. Tuesday night.

She is a relative newcomer to South Carolina politics, having moved to Mount Pleasant from Virginia in October.

“I’m just grateful that so many people put their trust in me and voted for me, I don’t take that lightly,” Lacore said, gathered with family and supporters at Saint Urban’s wine bar in Mount Pleasant.

She told The State that reaching across the aisle would be a critical to her strategy in the general election.

“We’ve already won over a lot of independents, a lot of Republicans, and we’re just going to have to expand that coalition and make sure that the Democratic Party unites,” Lacore said. “We need all of us on board if we’re going to win.”

Following criticism by her opponent regarding campaign finance and her voting record – she has admitted to voting Republican most of her life – Lacore turned down two debates, saying she “would not provide a free platform for her opponent to continue spreading misinformation” in a statement.

She led in fundraising for candidates across the primary race, building a strong funding apparatus by partnering with national PACs such as The Bench and EMILYs List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice women to Congress.

Lacore received national attention for her removal as Chief of the Navy Reserve in August 2025, which she says occurred without explanation. She is a strict critic of the Trump administration, and has promised bipartisan leadership that draws on her experience at the federal level.

Deford criticized Lacore heavily for being backed by The Bench, calling out Lacore for being financed by “AI data center billionaires” in a June 13 Facebook post. The Bench – in combination with Majority Democrats – has raised more than $8 million for candidates across the country.

Its biggest donors are hedge fund power couple Stephen and Susan Mandel, who personally donated $14,000 to Lacore’s campaign ahead of the primary. The Bench donated more than $4,500 before the preprimary reporting period closed June 3, according to FEC data.

Deford strived to portray his opponent as a pro-establishment candidate in social media posts and public appearances, and as an outsider to South Carolina politics. He carried strong support from Beaufort County.

This marks the second loss for Deford, who lost in the primary to Michael B. Moore in 2024.

So, what now?

The battle for the state’s 1st Congressional District – which includes all or parts of six counties, including Charleston, Jasper and Beaufort – has caught national attention for its potential to flip blue in the 2026 midterm.

Jordan Raglusa, a College of Charleston political science professor, points to both the district’s relative competitiveness and Mace’s high profile for the national attention on the November race.

“As far as South Carolina is concerned, it’s the only one that has any shot of changing hands, and that’s especially true when it’s an open-seat race,” Raglusa said. “Being that it’s Nancy Mace’s seat, who has generated strong opinions not only on both sides of the aisle but within her own party, I think that adds an extra degree of intrigue that will certainly get some national attention.”

The Cook Political Report recently updated the district’s standing from solidly Republican to “likely” Republican, reflecting a possible shift toward the political center.

The seat is held by Mace, who declined to run for re-election in a now-failed bid for governor, but was last won by a Democrat – Joe Cunningham – in 2018. His time in Congress was relatively short-lived, ending in 2020 on a loss to Mace.

Trump carried the district by 13 points in 2024, but the district remains one of many potential battlegrounds for control of Congress this fall.

The set salary for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives is $174,000 a year, according to House data.