Charleston, South Carolina: Nancy Lacore Flips House Seat as AP and NBC Call Race for Admiral Fired by Hegseth

The Associated Press and NBC News called the race for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District for Democrat Nancy Lacore on Friday night, flipping a coastal seat that Republicans had redrawn to favor their party and that President Donald Trump carried by 13 points in 2024.

With all 374 precincts reporting and an estimated 99 percent of the vote counted, Lacore had 162,103 votes to 158,751 for Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt, a margin of 3,352 votes, according to the AP tally. Lacore took 49.7 percent of the vote to Honeycutt's 48.6 percent, with Libertarian Bill Reeside at 5,351 votes.

Three days of counting in the Lowcountry

The district covers Charleston and much of the South Carolina coast. The count ran long after election officials in Dorchester County rescanned more than 5,000 ballots following a technical problem, which slowed the final tabulation, The Post and Courier reported.

Decision Desk HQ projected Lacore the winner on Wednesday, November 4. Honeycutt's campaign emailed Lacore early that morning to concede and congratulate her, The Post and Courier reported. Lacore declared victory the same day. "Thirty-five years ago, I took an oath to serve this country. Tonight, South Carolina's First Congressional District gave me the honor of continuing that service," she said in a statement on November 4, according to USA Today.

Retiring Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who holds the seat now and left it for a failed run for governor, congratulated Lacore on her victory on November 4 in a statement posted on her House website.

Fired by Hegseth, then elected

Lacore is a retired Navy vice admiral who served 35 years in uniform. She was commissioned in 1990, became a naval aviator in 1993, and rose to become the 16th chief of Navy Reserve in August 2024, leading about 59,000 reserve personnel, according to her Navy biography.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed her from that post on August 22, 2025. She ran for Congress as a Democrat on her military record and criticized Hegseth's leadership of the Pentagon, Military.com reported. Her campaign said the final Dorchester County totals put her lead outside the margin for an automatic recount under state rules, and that she would be the highest ranking military member of the 120th Congress.

What changes in Washington

Democrats won control of the House and the Senate in the November 3 midterms, and Lacore's seat adds one more vote to the incoming House majority when the new Congress convenes in January 2027. Cook Political Report had moved the race from Lean Republican to Toss-Up on October 30.

The results remain unofficial until South Carolina election officials certify them.