A Navy admiral fired by Pete Hegseth just flipped a Republican House seat in South Carolina
Pete Hegseth fired her. The voters of South Carolina just promoted her.
Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is projected to win South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, flipping the seat held by Rep. Nancy Mace. She defeated Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt, with Lacore just under 50 percent and Honeycutt just over 48 percent.
This is Trump country. The Hill reports Trump won the district by 13 points two years ago, and Republicans had recently redrawn it to favor themselves. Cook Political Report moved the race from lean Republican to toss-up as Lacore out-fundraised her opponent.
Lacore’s story is the kind you can’t write. She spent more than three decades in the Navy, starting as a helicopter pilot and rising to chief of the Navy Reserve, where she oversaw more than 60,000 sailors. She completed two deployments.
Then Hegseth fired her. She took that experience to the campaign trail, criticizing his management of the Pentagon and painting him as the public face of the increasingly unpopular Iran war. The Hill reports that message resonated with voters wary of how he’s handled the Defense Department.
It’s one of the cleanest results of the night. A decorated veteran, pushed out by Hegseth, beat a Republican in a district Trump carried and Republicans redrew for themselves.
Hegseth showed her the door. South Carolina gave her a seat in Congress.