Mace wins reelection bid, keeping Charleston-area House seat for Republicans

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC/AP) - Republican Rep. Nancy Mace has defeated her Democratic challenger to keep her House seat for a second term.

Mace hoped to hang on to her Charleston-area U.S. House seat after control of that South Carolina district has seesawed in recent years between Democrats and the GOP.

The freshman congresswoman faced challenger Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who supports access to abortions in the red state and greater restrictions on guns in a bid to stop waves of U.S. shooting violence. Meanwhile, the national inflation rate has made for unfriendly headwinds for the incumbent president’s party.

Mace said she has passed over 20 bills in her first term in Congress and is standing ground on being an independent voice and a conservative who has reached across the aisle to work with democrats and has stood with and against her own party time and time again. She said she wanted voters to think of who can really represent the district.

“I’ve been that voice and I’ve made that promise and I’ve made good on that promise since 2020 when I flipped this seat and it’s important that we have folks that can reach across the aisle and work hard and work with the other side,” she said. “And even when Republicans are in the majority I’m going to continue the work that I started, working with Republicans and Democrats alike. That’s part of the job.”

Andrews said Monday she met many independent and moderate Republican voters who believe in what she’s fighting for, and she hoped everyone, no matter the party, would see the same. Andrews has pushed her stance to solve problems that are affecting people of the Lowcountry.

“My opponent and many members of her party promise that if they’re elected, they’ll enact their secret magical plan to fight inflation,” Andrews said during a campaign stop. “Well, there is no secret magical plan we have to fight this policy by policy. And I will get serious about doing things that will affect District 1 voters bottom line.”

Both women say, win or lose, they will continue to serve their community in the Lowcountry.

South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District has been on a pendulum ride since 2018. Democrat Joe Cunningham, who is now running for governor, won the 1st District seat that year before losing to Mace in the following election.

Mace won a Republican primary earlier this year that had become a test of former President Donald Trump’s influence after he had endorsed her primary opponent.

But Trump’s influence held up in the GOP primary in the state’s 7th Congressional District, where state GOP representative Russel Fry advanced to face Democratic challenger Daryl Scott in Tuesday’s general election.

With Trump’s backing, Fry ousted five-term Rep. Tom Rice in the June primary. Rice was the first of the 10 House Republicans to lose a reelection bid after he had voted to impeach Trump after the U.S. Capitol riots.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and the state’s lone congressional Democrat, appears poised to win his sixteenth term. He is facing Republican attorney Duke Buckner in the 6th District.

In the 2nd District, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson — who has held onto his seat since 2001 — is facing Democrat Judd Larkins.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan is running unopposed and set to win his seventh term serving the 3rd District.

In the 4th District, Republican U.S. Rep. William Tennis faces Independent write-in candidate Lee Turner after the Democratic nominee withdrew from the race.

In the 5th District, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman is up against Democrat Evangeline Hundley, a real estate agent.

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