Democrats nominate retired Navy admiral for South Carolina's 1st District race

Nancy Lacore won the Democratic runoff for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District on June 23, giving Democrats a retired Navy three-star admiral as their nominee in a race they hope can test whether a veteran’s biography can broaden their map in a Republican-leaning coastal district. The Associated Press called the contest with Lacore at about 52% and roughly 19,000 votes counted, as Charleston attorney Mac Deford fell short in the party’s runoff.

The general election is set for Nov. 3, 2026, and the seat is open because Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace chose to run for governor instead of seeking reelection. Republicans also settled their side of the race the same day, with Jenny Costa Honeycutt winning the GOP runoff over state Rep. Mark Smith. The June 9 primaries had already shown how unsettled the contest was, drawing 18 candidates in all, 11 Republicans and seven Democrats.

Democrats are banking on Lacore’s military résumé to give them a better chance in a district that still favors Republicans on paper. Lacore served 35 years in the Navy and rose to chief of the Navy Reserve before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed her from a senior post in August 2025. Lacore said at the time that she was removed “without cause.” Her campaign picked up endorsements from EMILYs List and The Bench after launch, a sign that national Democrats see her as a credible recruit for a hard district.

South Carolina’s 1st District has been one of the state’s most closely watched House seats for a reason. It is the state’s only congressional district with a recent history of changing hands, and it has swung with the national mood before. Joe Cunningham flipped it for Democrats in 2018, beating Katie Arrington in a district that Donald Trump had carried by 13 points two years earlier. Mace won it back in 2020 and then widened her margins in 2022 and 2024 after redistricting made the seat more Republican-friendly.

The district runs along the lower South Carolina coast, covering all of Beaufort and Berkeley counties and most of Charleston County, including Charleston itself, one of the state’s largest political and economic centers. A recent Cook Political Report analysis moved the district from Solid R to Likely R, but still cautioned Republicans not to assume the race is safe. That mix of suburban growth, coastal population shifts and a history of ticket-splitting has kept Democrats interested, even in a district that backed Trump in 2024 and remains structurally red.