Rep. Nancy Mace conceded the South Carolina GOP governor’s primary after a decisive loss that underscored how quickly political fortunes shift when a candidate breaks with powerful party allies.
Rep. Nancy Mace conceded the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday, declaring defeat less than two hours after polls closed and finishing a distant fifth. She was pulling just 11.3% of the vote when she admitted defeat, while Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette led with roughly 29% and State Attorney General Alan Wilson trailed at about 26%. Evette and Wilson advanced to a June 23 runoff, with the GOP winner heavily favored in November in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 1998.
The result was decisive and delivered a clear message to Mace, the first woman to graduate the Citadel’s Corps of Cadets and a congresswoman since 2020. Her campaign had already been marked by high-profile stances and attention-grabbing moments, but that visibility did not translate into votes. The outcome highlighted the risk of alienating the party’s dominant figures in a primary where loyalty carried heavy weight.
“As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund. I chose to expose DEI judges. I chose to expose the abusers of children. And apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election.”
Mace framed the loss as the price of principle rather than a rejection. She has repeatedly tied her unpopularity with party elites to her public push to release government documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That fight drew her into open conflict with allies of former President Trump and made the endorsement question a central drama of her run.
She doubled down on that line in another post, insisting she knew the risk when she demanded transparency on the Epstein files. “I know I put the likelihood of an endorsement on the line when I demanded transparency on the Epstein files.” She added: “If sacrificing my values is the price of an endorsement, I will never pay it.”
President Trump formally endorsed Pamela Evette on May 29, praising her loyalty and work on his behalf in a Truth Social post that left no ambiguity about his preference. He called her “an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning” and emphasized her faithful support in personal terms. The endorsement reinforced the choice for many Republican voters who prioritized allegiance to Trump.
“She never wavered, never let me down, and was the only South Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate to Endorse me as soon as I launched my 2024 Presidential Campaign. She crisscrossed South Carolina and other States for me, and I said, at the time, that this is truly something which I cannot forget!”
Trump dismissed the rest of the field as “not serious” and backed Evette in a tele-rally the night before the vote. Evette had long cast herself as the most Trump-aligned candidate, even running an early ad that declared, “It’s good to have President Trump’s back. I’ve backed him from Day One.” Polling already showed her ahead before the endorsement, and the public backing only widened that lead.
On the day the president endorsed Evette, Mace had challenged Evette’s claims about an endorsement, writing on social media that “Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP. Do not believe her LIES.” Hours later the endorsement arrived, and the exchange became a high-profile misstep for Mace.
In an unexpected twist, Mace endorsed Alan Wilson in her concession speech, despite previously accusing him of ignoring her allegations and despite Wilson labeling some claims “categorically false.” That endorsement positioned Wilson as the anti-Evette consolidation option heading into the June 23 runoff and suggested Mace hoped to influence the direction of the contest even after losing.
“categorically false.”
Mace’s public allegations had been a recurring element of her identity on the campaign trail; she accused four men, including an ex-fiancé, of sex-trafficking and rape in a House floor speech and tied those claims to her transparency push. The Epstein files fight spilled over into broader committee fights in Washington, generating transcripts, testimony, and political friction that kept the controversy alive but did not win primary voters to her side.
Her congressional tenure has often mixed attention-grabbing moves with uneven political returns. She drew headlines for wearing a scarlet “A” shirt after voting to oust a House speaker and for a profanity-laced confrontation when airport police delayed her. Those episodes reinforced a public image of a politician willing to pick fights, but they did not build the durable coalitions needed to carry a statewide GOP primary.
The fallout around the Epstein matter extended beyond Mace’s campaign, touching figures like former Attorney General Pam Bondi and drawing partisan threats in Washington. Those developments kept the story in the news, yet they did little to change the reality that Republican primary voters rewarded loyalty to Trump and a steady, familiar lane in the race.
The June 23 runoff will determine who carries the Republican mantle in a state where that nomination is tantamount to election. Evette enters with Trump’s endorsement, front-runner momentum and the largest share of Tuesday’s vote, while Wilson now presents himself as the alternative with Mace’s post-primary support. Other candidates in the primary, including Rep. Ralph Norman and businessman Rom Reddy, finished behind Mace, leaving her near the bottom of the field in a quick, decisive result.
Mace gave up her House seat to pursue the governorship and now faces a political crossroads after a campaign she framed as principled but that ended in a lopsided loss. She vowed that this chapter is over while signaling the fight is not finished, and she left open the question of what comes next for her career and for the issues she pushed hard in public.
