Republicans just lost a South Carolina congressional district that President Trump carried by 13 points.
Retired Navy Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore defeated Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, delivering Democrats one of the most startling flips of the 2026 midterms.
The Associated Press called the race for Lacore on Friday, two days after Election Day, as the final ballots were counted. The delayed call followed an unusually tight count in the coastal district, where Lacore had already declared victory and Honeycutt had conceded.
Lacore ran for the open seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who left Congress to make an unsuccessful bid for governor. The result returns the district to Democratic hands after Republicans reclaimed it in 2020.
The biography behind the upset is just as consequential as the party switch. Lacore served 35 years in the Navy, rose to three-star rank and led the Navy Reserve before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly removed her in August 2025.
No public reason was given. She then moved from military command into electoral politics and won in territory that had leaned decisively toward Trump just two years earlier.
The numbers were razor-thin. Polling Desk reported Lacore at 162,103 votes, or 49.7%, against Honeycutt’s 158,751 votes, or 48.6%, with 99% of the expected vote counted.
That is a margin of just 3,352 votes in a district Republicans had every reason to expect they would hold.
The third-party vote mattered, too. Libertarian Bill Reeside drew more votes than the gap separating Lacore and Honeycutt, underscoring how little room either major-party candidate had for error.
Those figures also show why the result is larger than a routine open-seat shuffle. President Trump carried the district by 13 points in 2024, while Mace won her own reelection that year by an even wider margin.
Lacore’s coalition overcame that recent Republican advantage in a single cycle.
The count was slowed by a technical problem in Dorchester County that required thousands of ballots to be rescanned. Once those votes were incorporated, Lacore’s lead stood outside South Carolina’s automatic recount threshold and the race moved toward its final call.
Honeycutt conceded the race, according to WTOC, clearing the way for Lacore to claim the Lowcountry seat. Outgoing Republican Rep. Nancy Mace also congratulated Lacore and promised her office would help ensure a smooth transition for constituents.
Lacore did not come out of nowhere. She served 35 years in the Navy and rose to vice admiral, overseeing approximately 60,000 sailors as chief of the Navy Reserve.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed Lacore from that post in August 2025 without a public explanation. She later entered the race as a Democrat after previously identifying as a Republican.
The political message is difficult to miss. A decorated officer who was fired by the Trump administration assembled enough Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans to win a district Trump had carried comfortably.
Republicans can point to the narrow margin, but that cuts both ways. Losing by 3,352 votes means turnout, candidate quality and even a modest swing among persuadable voters can erase what looked like a safe advantage.
South Carolina’s 1st District has now delivered a warning the GOP cannot afford to dismiss: a strong Republican baseline is no substitute for earning every vote.
The seat will put Lacore back in Washington, this time with a vote in Congress and a national spotlight on how she uses it.
Her victory also gives Democrats a rare foothold along South Carolina’s coast heading into the next Congress.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Republicans Lose Trump +13 South Carolina Seat To Admiral Fired By Hegseth appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
