Nancy Lacore claims SC-01 victory as Costa Honeycutt concedes

Three thousand three hundred eight votes. Out of 326,012 cast, that is the sliver separating Nancy Lacore from Jenny Costa Honeycutt in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, according to Yahoo’s tally of the state’s most recent count. Live 5 News reported the same margin as a 1.1% lead for Lacore with 98.9% of ballots counted. Either way, retired Navy vice admiral Nancy Lacore is claiming the seat, and her Republican opponent has already conceded.

The concession came by email early Wednesday morning, Live 5 News reported, when Honeycutt’s campaign contacted Lacore to concede the race and offer congratulations. By Wednesday afternoon, Lacore stood at her Mount Pleasant headquarters telling reporters that the Lowcountry had sent a message. “In a district Donald Trump won by 13 points just two years ago, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents came together to demand something better from Washington,” she said.

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That 13-point Trump margin makes this flip the story of the night. The district, which includes Charleston and the coastal Lowcountry, had been solidly red in the last presidential cycle. Now it will be represented by a Democrat who was fired from the Pentagon by the Trump administration’s defense secretary.

A District That Broke for the Admiral

Lacore, who moved to Mount Pleasant in 2025 after being removed as Chief of Navy Reserve by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, leaned heavily on that military record. Her campaign argued that she had already worked with both parties in Washington to secure Navy Reserve funding, and would bring that same approach to Congress.

BREAKING: Jenny Costa Honeycutt has conceded and Nancy Lacore (D) has won the SC-01 general election to replace Nancy Mace in Congress

— https://x.com/scpolicycouncil/status/2118071016194736150

“You have to meet in the middle. I believe we’ll be able to do that. That is how I’ve operated in my entire career. I’ve already worked with Congress. I’ve already worked with both Republicans and Democrats to get the appropriations that we needed for the Navy Reserve when I was Chief of the Navy Reserve. I’ll just continue that type of dialogue with everybody,” Lacore said.

Incumbent Congresswoman Nancy Mace, whose seat Lacore will take, issued her own statement Wednesday morning congratulating her successor and pledging a smooth transition. “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve South Carolina,” Mace said, adding that her office remains open to constituents at mace.house.gov/constituentservices.

The Math That Isn’t Finished

Despite the concession, the race remains officially uncalled. Results are unofficial until the state Board of Canvassers certifies them Friday, Yahoo reported. If Lacore’s 1.1% lead holds, it clears the threshold for an automatic recount, which would finalize her victory. The Libertarian candidate, Bill Reeside of Edisto Island, collected 5,346 votes—more than the margin between the two major-party candidates.

Nancy Lacore claims SC-01 victory as Costa Honeycutt concedes — Photo: yahoo.com

Reeside told The Post and Courier he did not see himself as a spoiler, but admitted he was “naive” to think people would abandon party lines. “I spoke to literally thousands of people during this campaign, knocking on doors, standing at polls, and it’s very clear that people will not leave their Democrat or Republican tribe,” he said. “They just won’t do it.”

Lacore acknowledged the third-party factor while framing the result as a broader mandate. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy everywhere, but we also knew that South Carolinians are frustrated, they’re tired and they’re looking for some change,” she told reporters. She also pointed to Democratic gains nationwide, saying the party appeared poised to hold the House and make inroads in the Senate, giving Democrats “some real power” despite the president’s veto authority.

What Comes Friday

For now, the only certainty is that Honeycutt’s campaign has stopped contesting the result. She posted on social media at 2:17 a.m. Wednesday that the campaign “has never been about me. It has always been about the Lowcountry.” Whether the 3,308-vote margin survives Friday’s certification is the remaining question—and until the Board of Canvassers signs off, the admiral’s victory remains a claim backed by a concession, not yet a certified fact.