CNN
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South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace will win the Republican main for the state’s 1st Congressional District, CNN tasks, staving off two challengers and a push by allies of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whom she voted to oust.
By taking a majority of the vote Tuesday, Mace is projected to keep away from a June 25 main runoff in her quest for a 3rd time period representing the coastal Charleston-area seat.
Tuesday’s end result comes as a much-needed win for Mace, who has change into an more and more polarizing determine inside her celebration. She has confronted waves of criticism over the previous a number of months, together with accusations that she created a poisonous office to anger over votes by her and 7 different Republicans to boot McCarthy from the speakership in October.
Days after the transfer, Mace wore a white T-shirt with a pink “A” on the entrance, a reference to the novel “The Scarlet Letter” and what she described as a demonization of her vote.
McCarthy sought his revenge on the poll field, together with his allies spending tens of millions attacking Mace through the main. The congresswoman and teams backing her painted chief opponent Catherine Templeton – a former South Carolina Cupboard official beneath Republican Gov. Nikki Haley – as a McCarthy puppet.
Mace has confronted criticism for her evolving relationship with former President Donald Trump. After the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, Mace told CNN that Trump’s “total legacy was worn out” that day. Within the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, Trump backed her main opponent Katie Arrington. Amongst Mace’s chief backers in that main was Haley, who campaigned with Mace and appeared in a TV advert on her behalf. Mace went on to defeat Arrington by 8 factors.
Two years later, Mace endorsed Trump over Haley forward of South Carolina’s Republican presidential main. The previous president endorsed Mace in March, calling her a “robust conservative voice.”
Mace was first elected in 2020, when she narrowly unseated Democratic incumbent Joe Cunningham. She comfortably gained reelection two years later after the district was redrawn to change into extra favorable to the GOP.
A 3-judge panel concluded final yr that the district’s new traces amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. However the US Supreme Court docket upheld the new map final month, rejecting the argument that state lawmakers had impermissibly used race as a proxy to bolster the GOP’s probabilities.
In the meantime, within the state’s 4th Congressional District, Republican Rep. William Timmons will win his main, CNN tasks, turning into the newest GOP lawmaker to combat off a problem from his proper flank this yr.
Timmons, who had Trump’s endorsement, is projected to defeat state Rep. Adam Morgan, who had the backing of a number of members of the Home Freedom Caucus and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
In a main that was largely targeted on fashion over substance, Morgan and his allies argued that Timmons was unwilling to buck celebration management, together with McCarthy. Timmons pointed to his conservative report and different key endorsements, together with from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, House Speaker Mike Johnson and conservative Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Gaetz and different GOP hard-liners have had restricted success this cycle in backing main challengers to their colleagues. Republican Reps. Tony Gonzales of Texas and Don Bacon of Nebraska are amongst a number of Home Republicans who’ve crushed again challenges from their proper this yr.
Timmons was first elected to workplace in 2018, succeeding Republican Trey Gowdy within the Upstate South Carolina seat, which incorporates Greenville and Spartanburg. In 2022, Timmons was accused of partaking in an extramarital affair, which he has denied. He and his spouse divorced that very same yr.
Timmons held an enormous benefit over Morgan within the cash race, elevating greater than $1.9 million by way of Could 22, in contrast with $578,000 by his opponent. The incumbent was additionally boosted by exterior spending, together with tremendous PAC adverts that described him as powerful on the border and touted his endorsement from McMaster.
This story has been up to date with further data.