Published: June 10, 2026 | Category: South Carolina Politics | SC Election Results 2026
The Night Everything Fell Apart for Nancy Mace
In one of the most closely watched state races of the 2026 election cycle, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace failed to advance in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary on June 9, 2026, finishing a distant fifth place in a crowded field. The result sent shockwaves through South Carolina politics — not because it was entirely unexpected, but because of how decisive and personal the defeat turned out to be.
If you were watching the SC election results come in Tuesday night, you already know: this was not a close call. Mace did not just lose. She was shut out — unable to carry a single county, including her own home county of Charleston. For a three-term congresswoman with one of the highest name-recognition ratings among South Carolina Republicans, the SC primary results 2026 represent a stunning collapse.
Here is everything you need to know about what happened, who won, and what comes next in the South Carolina governor race.
SC Primary Results 2026: The Official Numbers
With ballots counted across the Palmetto State, here is how the Republican field finished in the South Carolina primary 2026:
- Pamela Evette (Lt. Governor) — 29.3%
- Alan Wilson (Attorney General) — 26.2%
- Ralph Norman (U.S. Rep.) — 17.1%
- Rom Reddy (Businessman) — 14.2%
- Nancy Mace (U.S. Rep.) — 12.1%
Because no candidate crossed the required 50% majority threshold, the SC governor race is heading to a runoff election on June 23, 2026, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette will face Attorney General Alan Wilson. Nearly 465,000 votes were cast in the Republican primary, making this one of the highest-turnout GOP gubernatorial primaries in recent South Carolina history.
For those checking SC election results today, the official Associated Press call came just after 9 p.m. EDT on Tuesday — with Mace conceding even before the race was formally called.
Who Is Nancy Mace? A Political Biography
To understand the weight of Tuesday’s defeat, you need to understand the arc of Nancy Mace’s political career — a story that captures everything turbulent about modern Republican politics.
Born and raised in South Carolina, Mace made history in 1999 as the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, one of America’s most demanding military colleges. That achievement defined her early public image: tough, trailblazing, unafraid of difficult rooms.
She won her first congressional race in 2020, unseating Democratic incumbent Joe Cunningham in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District — a coastal Lowcountry seat covering Charleston and the surrounding areas. She ran that race as a pragmatic, moderate Republican, and her victory was widely regarded as a genuine upset.
But the political world she walked into was not one that rewarded moderation for long
From Moderate to MAGA — and Back Again
In the days following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Mace was among the most vocal Republican critics of Donald Trump. She condemned his conduct clearly and publicly. She was one of only seven House Republicans to sign a letter stating that Congress lacked the authority to overturn the 2020 presidential election. She was, briefly, a Republican willing to say out loud what many thought privately.
Then she pivoted.
As Trump’s grip on the GOP tightened ahead of the 2024 election cycle, Mace repositioned herself as a fierce MAGA loyalist. She worked hard to rebuild bridges with the former president, actively boosted him during South Carolina’s presidential primary against former Gov. Nikki Haley, and became a prominent culture-war voice in the House — particularly on transgender issues and other flashpoint debates.
It appeared to work, at least partially. By the time she launched her South Carolina governor race bid in August 2025, Mace was seen as a potential frontrunner — someone with the name recognition, the media savvy, and the MAGA credibility to compete seriously.
She was wrong about one thing: she thought she had Trump’s endorsement locked in.
Why Nancy Mace Lost: The Epstein Files Decision
The story of why Nancy Mace lost the South Carolina primary is ultimately the story of one consequential political gamble: the Epstein files.
In early 2026, Mace became one of the most prominent Republican voices in Congress demanding the public release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose network allegedly reached the highest levels of American power. As a sexual assault survivor herself, Mace framed her push as a matter of personal principle — a stand against child exploitation and elite impunity.
She led a House Oversight Committee effort pushing then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify before Congress about her department’s handling of the Epstein file release. She supported a discharge petition to force a House vote on making the documents public.
Inside the Republican Party, this was political dynamite. Demanding accountability from within a Trump administration — even on a cause with genuine moral weight — broke an unspoken rule of the current GOP.
Trump did not forget.
In late May 2026, just weeks before the SC primary, Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette. He had previously offered no endorsement in the race — and many, including Mace herself, had hoped that silence might eventually break in her favor. Instead, the endorsement went to Evette, and with it went the race.
In her concession speech, Mace was remarkably direct about what she believed cost her the governorship. “I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that,” she told supporters. “As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to stand against child rapists.”
She added: “This isn’t the end of the fight. It’s just the end of this chapter.”
Shortly after conceding, Mace endorsed Attorney General Alan Wilson in the upcoming runoff — notably, the candidate running against Trump’s pick.
Pamela Evette: Who Is She and Why Did Trump Back Her?
The biggest winner of the SC primary results 2026 is Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who now enters the June 23 runoff as the frontrunner with a Trump endorsement at her back.
Evette has served as South Carolina’s lieutenant governor since 2019, working closely alongside outgoing term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster. McMaster endorsed her in February 2026, and Trump followed suit with a late-campaign endorsement that described her as “an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning.”
A former businesswoman, Evette built her campaign on three central pillars: eliminating South Carolina’s state income tax, strengthening election security, and pushing judicial reform. She has positioned herself as continuity candidate — a natural extension of the McMaster era — while also wrapping herself firmly in the MAGA banner.
If she wins the runoff, Evette would become only the second woman to serve as governor of South Carolina, following Nikki Haley.
At her election night watch party in Greenville, Evette told the crowd that Trump had called her personally. “He said, ‘We are going to fight, and we are going to win this runoff big,'” she told cheering supporters.
Alan Wilson: The Challenger Heading Into the Runoff
Standing between Evette and the governorship is Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s attorney general for over 15 years and one of the longest-serving AGs in the nation.
Wilson, the son of longtime Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, brings institutional credibility and deep establishment roots. He was first elected attorney general in 2010 and has been reelected three times since. He also serves as a Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps for the South Carolina Army National Guard.
While he does not carry Trump’s official endorsement heading into the SC governor race runoff, Wilson received an unexpected boost on election night: Nancy Mace publicly endorsed him immediately after conceding, calling him the better choice for South Carolina. Wilson thanked Mace in his own election night speech.
The debate between Evette and Wilson is scheduled for June 16 in Conway, one week before voters return to the polls.
What These SC Election Results Tell Us
The South Carolina primary results from June 9, 2026 tell a layered story about Republican politics heading deeper into the 2026 midterm election cycle.
Trump’s Endorsement Still Dominates
The outcome confirms what has been true in nearly every contested Republican primary this cycle: a Trump endorsement is the single most valuable asset a candidate can carry. Evette’s late surge after receiving Trump’s backing — announced just 11 days before the primary — directly correlates with her frontrunner finish. In a state where, as observers have noted, Trump’s word functions as political gospel, that dynamic played out exactly as expected.
The Cost of Principled Defiance
Mace’s loss raises a genuinely uncomfortable question for the GOP: what happens to Republican officeholders who break with Trump on issues of genuine moral weight? Mace was not opposing Trump on tax cuts or foreign policy. She was demanding accountability for a convicted child sex offender. And yet the political consequence was the same.
Her story is a cautionary tale about the current Republican political environment — one that Mace herself acknowledged without flinching.
What Happens to Mace Now?
With the gubernatorial bid over and her House seat vacated to run, Nancy Mace faces real uncertainty about her political future. She chose not to seek re-election to her congressional seat in order to run for governor, meaning she is currently without elected office for the first time since 2020.
Whether she runs for another position — perhaps another congressional race or a statewide office — remains to be seen. Political observers are divided. Some see Tuesday’s result as the end of her electoral career. Others point to her national profile, her media presence, and her demonstrated ability to generate attention as assets that rarely simply disappear in modern politics.
What is certain is that the chapter she described — this particular chapter — is closed.
What Comes Next: The June 23 SC Governor Race Runoff
The SC primary 2026 runoff is set for June 23, 2026, with Pamela Evette facing Alan Wilson. Several things will shape the next two weeks:
The June 16 Debate in Conway — Both candidates have committed to a one-on-one debate, which will be the clearest head-to-head test of their campaigns before runoff day.
The Trump Factor — Trump’s endorsement of Evette is expected to intensify, not soften, heading into the runoff. His campaign infrastructure and social media reach will continue boosting her.
The Mace Effect — Mace’s endorsement of Wilson and her stated opposition to Evette introduces an interesting dynamic. Her 12% of the primary vote represents real voters who now have a named destination: Wilson.
The November General — Whoever wins the Republican runoff will face Democrat Jermaine Johnson in November. In a state where the GOP has controlled the governor’s mansion since 2003, the Republican nominee will be considered a heavy favorite.
Conclusion A Race That Defined a Political Era
The Nancy Mace story — from Citadel trailblazer to Tea Party insurgent to Trump critic to MAGA convert to Epstein-files crusader to fifth-place finish — is one of the most complicated political biographies in recent American history. It is not simply a story of opportunism, though critics will read it that way. It is also a story of a politician genuinely caught between two versions of herself, trying to hold together a coalition that ultimately was not hers to claim.
The SC election results 2026 did not just eliminate a candidate. They clarified something about the Republican Party in South Carolina and, perhaps, across the country: in the current climate, the cost of defiance — even principled defiance — is high.
The runoff on June 23 will decide who leads South Carolina next. But the primary of June 9 will be remembered for what it revealed about the limits of individual courage within a party increasingly defined by loyalty to one man.
For live updates on the SC governor race runoff, South Carolina primary results, and broader 2026 midterm election coverage, bookmark this page and follow real-time SC election results as they develop.
