Nancy Lacore has secured a spot in a runoff election for one of South Carolina's most competitive House seats, setting up a fall battle in a district engineered to lean Republican.
Lacore, a retired Navy admiral dismissed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is vying to fill the seat vacated by Representative Nancy Mace. Mace opted out of her re-election bid to pursue a gubernatorial campaign that ultimately fell short.
The district in question was redrawn in 2021 with Republican advantage in mind, making it a tough terrain for any challenger not aligned with the party's base. Lacore's military background and her high-profile firing from the Pentagon could cut both ways in a general election campaign focused on national security and leadership credentials.
Mace's decision to leave the House and run for governor instead opened the seat, creating an opportunity for several candidates to compete for what could become a marquee race this fall. Lacore's advancement to the runoff signals significant support from voters in the primary phase, despite the district's structural Republican tilt.
The former admiral's campaign will need to navigate the challenge of winning over a Republican-leaning electorate while leveraging her military service and the circumstances of her removal from office as talking points about principle and strength. How the general election unfolds will depend heavily on the political environment and her opponent's profile heading into the home stretch.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Lacore's path to the House just got real, but that district was built to reject exactly what she's selling."
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