Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) conceded the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary race Tuesday less than two hours after polls closed, as returns showed the firebrand congresswoman trailing Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette by double digits.
“This isn’t the end of the fight, but it is the end of a chapter,” Mace said in her concession speech, during which she endorsed state Attorney General Alan Wilson in a runoff race against Evette.
Mace was garnering only 11.3% of the vote — putting her in fifth place in the GOP field — when she admitted defeat.
Meanwhile, Evette held about 29% of the vote, while Wilson was receiving roughly 26% — both advancing to a runoff election.
“Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life,” Mace wrote on X, shortly after conceding. “Every vote I cast, every hearing I called, every fight I picked — it was always for you.”
The congresswoman suggested her crusades on behalf of sexual assault victims, including her vote “to release the Epstein files” and work to “expose” secret congressional sexual harrasment settelements, cost her the election.
“As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up,” Mace wrote. “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.”
President Trump endorsed Evette in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster on May 29, in a massive blow to the four other Republicans in the primary field, including Mace.
The competition for the coveted endorsement from the commander-in-chief was fierce and a focal point of the race.
Throughout the primary campaign, Mace and Evette, in particular, attempted to position themselves as the most Trump-aligned candidate in the race.
Both prominently featured Trump on campaign material well before the president made an endorsement in the race.
“It’s good to have President Trump’s back,” Evette said last August, in her first campaign ad of the cycle. “I’ve backed him from Day One.”
Mace, who touts her 2024 congressional campaign endorsement from Trump on her social media and website, accused Evette at the time of misleading voters.
“Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP. Do not believe her LIES,” the congresswoman fumed in an X post the same day the president would go on to back Evette in the race.
Evette had been the front-runner in the race in the weeks leading up to Trump’s endorsement, according to polling.
“Highly Respected and very popular Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, Pam Evette, is an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post granting Evette his seal of approval.
“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,” he added. “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 also stumped for Evette during an election eve tele-rally, where he dismissed the lieutenant governor’s primary competition as “not serious” and once again praised her for endorsing him “right from the beginning.”
Rep. Ralph Norman. (R-SC), state Attorney General Alan Wilson and businessman Rom Reddy were the other Republicans apart from Mace running in the GOP primary.
During the same tele-rally, Evette told Trump that the GOP primary field was trying to “take credit for being one of your favorites.”
Mace attributed the snub to her support for releasing government documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
“I know I put the likelihood of an endorsement on the line when I demanded transparency on the Epstein files,” Mace wrote on X. “I demanded it because you deserved the truth – ALL OF IT – and as a survivor of a corrupt and broken court system, I will always pursue justice for those who deserve it.
“If sacrificing my values is the price of an endorsement, I will never pay it.”
Mace, the first woman to graduate The Citadel’s Corps of Cadets, has been one of the most provocative members of Congress since her election to the House in 2020.
Her headline grabbing moments include donning a scarlet ‘A’ T-shirt after voting to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; leveling shocking allegations of sex trafficking and rape against four men — including her ex-fiancé — in an explosive House floor speech; launching into a profanity-laced tirade when cops were late to escort her through the Charleston airport; and the departure of several members of her congressional staff amid allegations of a toxic work environemnt in office.
Mace also publicly accused Wilson, whom she endorsed Tuesday night, of ignoring her allegations of sexual abuse against her ex-fiancé and others – a claim Wilson slammed as “categorically false.”
In her victory speech, the congresswoman said she and Wilson have “buried the hatchet.”
The winner of Evette-Wilson runoff race — slated for June 23 – will be heavily favored in November.
South Carolina voters have not elected a Democrat to the governor’s mansion since 1998.
