The race to replace Representative Nancy Mace, an outspoken member of Congress from South Carolina’s First Congressional District who is now running for governor, has flown largely under the national radar, with a chaotic and sprawling field of primary candidates vying for what has become a safely Republican seat.
The district, which includes the city of Charleston and hugs the southern coast of the state, briefly became something of a battleground. But Ms. Mace clawed it back from a Democratic incumbent in the 2020 election. The following year, Republicans redrew its boundaries as part of the end-of-decade reapportionment process, making it far easier for their party to hold. Ms. Mace won the intervening elections in 2022 and 2024 by double digits.
As a result, most of the attention in 2026 has settled on the Republican field, where 10 candidates will appear on the ballot, though one of them, Mark Sanford, the former governor, has dropped out of the race.
Polling in the primary field has been scant, and with such a crowded field of Republican candidates, a runoff between the top two is all but assured. Campaigning was also briefly disrupted earlier this spring, while the state legislature debated whether to take up redistricting following a directive from President Trump. The measure failed in the South Carolina Senate.
State Representative Mark Smith, a Republican who represents a district just outside of Charleston, has topped some straw polls and internal polls released by competing candidates. Other challengers include Alex Pelbath, a veteran who decided to run for office after the tumultuous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan; Jay Byers, a county councilman; and Logan Cunningham, also a county councilman.
The Democratic primary is similarly crowded and lacking in any robust polling. One candidate, however, has proved to be a prolific fund-raiser.
Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, raised $500,000 in her first two weeks as a candidate. Ms. Lacore is one of 12 House candidates nationwide this cycle who are backed by the Bench, a group led by longtime Democratic strategists that recruits and advises candidates in both traditional battleground districts and contests that are seen as harder to win.
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