Nancy Mace crashes and burns in South Carolina governor primary

Another congressional Republican who seems to have fallen out of favor with President Trump has suffered humiliating defeat in a primary.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) now joins the likes of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in losing a primary battle in resounding fashion after failing to earn an endorsement from Trump. On Tuesday night, Mace finished a distant fifth place in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.

'This isn't the end of the fight. It's just the end of this chapter.'

Before 9 p.m. ET, she had conceded defeat, posting a lengthy concession message on X. "Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life. Every vote I cast, every hearing I called, every fight I picked — it was always for you," she began.

"Apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election. I'm at peace with that. Because when a candidate is OK with corruption and cover-ups — something is broken. That's not a political opinion. That's a moral emergency," she continued.

"This isn't the end of the fight. It's just the end of this chapter," she assured her supporters.

Before 7:30 the next morning, Mace appeared to be in light spirits once again, joking on X: "Enjoying my first cup of coffee since getting my ass kicked last night."

RELATED: Democrat voters in Georgia want nothing to do with Trump-hating ex-Republican

Trump and Mace shaking hands. WIN MCNAMEE/POOL/AFP/Getty Images.

Always outspoken, Mace likely lost all hope of a Trump endorsement this year after she pushed for ever more Epstein disclosures, even as she thanked Trump for supporting the "survivors."

Mace's alliance with Trump has been precarious for years. In the 2022 Republican primary for Mace's congressional seat, Trump endorsed a challenger and shifted his support to Mace only after she prevailed. Trump then endorsed Mace's re-election bid in 2024.

Now that she is leaving Congress, Mace says she plans to return "to the private sector ... as the Founders intended," signaling that she may have closed the door on her political aspirations for good.

Trump, meanwhile, can claim victory in her disastrous gubernatorial bid. The candidate he endorsed, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, led the pack, collecting 28.9% of the vote.

Second-place finisher Attorney General Alan Wilson received 26.2%. Evette and Wilson now head for a runoff election scheduled for June 23.

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