Nancy Mace gave up her congressional seat, ran on the most nationally visible platform in a five-person field, and finished fifth in her own state’s Republican primary — behind a self-funding businessman nobody had heard of three months ago. That is the result. She got 57,332 votes, or 12.1 percent, in a race she entered as the frontrunner.
The same woman who had 24 percent in a March 2026 Stratus Intelligence poll, leading the field by six points, ended election night in last place. Whatever happened between March and June 9 is the actual story.
What the Numbers Actually Say
Trump-endorsed Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette led the final Republican field with 28.9 percent. Attorney General Alan Wilson came second at 26.2 percent. Representative Ralph Norman placed third with 17.1 percent and businessman Rom Reddy took 14.2 percent. Mace finished fifth with 57,332 votes — 12.1 percent.
She lost her own home county. She lost her own congressional district. A Trafalgar Group survey in the final stretch had already demoted her to fourth place, below Norman. By election night, even that proved too generous — Reddy, who entered the race late and self-funded, pulled enough votes to push her down one more rung.
Under South Carolina election law, the top two candidates advance to a June 23 runoff. Evette and Wilson are now headed there. Mace is headed nowhere, at least for the immediate future. She gave up her House seat to run for governor, which means she leaves this race with no office to return to.
The Endorsement She Didn’t Get and Why
On May 29, Trump took to social media to endorse Evette, saying 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.” That single post effectively ended the race for everyone not named Evette or Wilson.
Mace’s explanation for the snub is direct: the Epstein files. She was one of a small group of Republicans who signed a discharge petition to force a House vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files — putting her at odds with Trump on a high-profile issue. She told Politico she believes that vote cost her the endorsement. Trump did not dispute the framing.
The irony is layered. Mace had spent years rebuilding her relationship with Trump after denouncing his role in January 6, formally endorsed him in January 2024, and by the time he returned to the White House had established a record as a staunch conservative and supporter. She even declined to criticize Trump directly over the Epstein delays, reserving her fire for then-Attorney General Pam Bondi instead. None of it was enough. One discharge petition, and the endorsement went to someone else.
She’s Already Endorsed Wilson Against Trump’s Pick
Here is the detail that gets buried in the fifth-place headlines: after conceding, Mace immediately endorsed Attorney General Alan Wilson for the June 23 runoff — the candidate running against Trump’s pick, Evette.
That is not the move of someone making peace with the president. That is someone who has decided the Epstein vote cost her everything anyway, so the leverage is gone and she may as well act on principle. Whether that framing holds is her political calculation to make. The runoff is June 23.
What She Said on the Way Out
“Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life,” Mace wrote in her concession post. “Every vote I cast, every hearing I called, every fight I picked — it was always for you.”
She insisted she has no regrets over the Epstein push, framing the loss as the price of an independent conscience rather than a strategic miscalculation. She is probably right that it was the price. Whether it was worth it is a different question, and one she’ll have considerably more time to consider now that she has no office from which to answer it.
The Part of This Story That Matters Beyond South Carolina
The Mace result is a clean data point in a pattern that’s been running all cycle: Republican primaries in 2026 function as a loyalty test with a single grader. The result underscores the continued power of Trump’s endorsement in Republican primaries and the political risk of breaking with him on high-profile issues — even when the break is on something as politically charged as the Epstein files, which a significant portion of the MAGA base actually wanted released.
Mace tried to thread that needle. She supported releasing the files because the base wanted them released, but refused to attack Trump over the delays. It didn’t matter. The endorsement logic is binary: you’re either first in, or you’re fifth place in your own state’s primary, telling reporters you have no regrets on the way out the door.
About the Author
Your 38-year-old cousin who covers state politics for a regional paper nobody reads and brings a laminated electoral map to every family reunion.
