South Carolina GOP House primary gets nasty in closing arguments

Incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace had adopted a stateswoman approach to her June 14 primary. But in her campaign’s closing weeks, Mace has increased her criticism of her Trump-endorsed opponent, scrappy ex-state Rep. Katie Arrington, who has beaten a sitting member in the primary before.

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Mace’s rhetoric shift reflects the pressure she is under to respond to Arrington in a newly drawn district that leans Republican — one that Arrington forfeited to former Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in the 2018 general election. But Mace also has to contend with Republican discontent over her decision to certify the 2020 Election College results and to scrutinize former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 riots.

Voters, even Arrington supporters, are divided regarding Mace and her challenger’s tone, with the pair’s animosity dating back to their time in South Carolina’s statehouse. Berkeley County retiree Mark Inman, 72, complained that their advertisements, augmented by outside groups and out-of-state money, have taken “things out of context.”

“Every politician does that, but these two seem to be taking it to a different level,” he said. “Being aggressive and fiery is good to a point, and then it gets to the point where they are overdoing it.”

Mace’s closing argument is underscored by a negative ad about Arrington’s 2021 Pentagon security clearance suspension, though Mace denies she has gone “negative” on her rival. The 30-second grayscale ad that asks voters whether they can trust Arrington can be contrasted with the confidence Mace projects about the contest. Arrington disputes accusations of wrongdoing during her tenure as chief information security officer in Trump’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

With limited 1st District public polling, Mace cites a Winning for Women Action Fund survey that found she had a 20-percentage-point advantage over Arrington at the end of last month. Trafalgar Group research released last week indicated a closer race, with Mace ahead but below 50%. However, that study did not include withdrawn candidate and active-duty military wife Lynz Piper-Loomis on the ballot.

Mace’s above-the-fray approach was based on her incumbency and Arrington’s mixed electoral record. Arrington primaried former Republican Rep. Mark Sanford, an ex-South Carolina governor and Trump critic, in 2018 before almost being killed by a drunk driver in a car crash and then being defeated by Cunningham. Mace, a high school dropout who worked her way up from Waffle House to The Citadel, a prestigious military college, eventually unseated Cunningham in 2020.

“I am a conservative, but I represent a district that is not entirely conservative,” Mace told the Washington Examiner after an at-times confrontational Beaufort County constituent event. “If you’re unwilling to work with anyone, you will never deliver results for the low country or the state of South Carolina or anyone in our nation.”

Arrington disagrees. She was adamant during her only televised debate with Mace that her competitor had “read the room wrong” by “collaborating” with “unhinged” congressional Democrats. Arrington’s ads comparing Mace to far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and ripping her for co-sponsoring, for example, pro-gay, pro-marijuana, and animal rights legislation make the same point.

“When the 2020 election happened, 2018, we were purple-ish,” Arrington said in an interview after receiving a rowdy welcome at this month’s Berkeley County Republican Party breakfast. “We are not purple now. We are hardcore conservative.”

Arrington has activated Trump’s base in the 1st District, partly because of her calls to abolish the federal Department of Education over critical race theory and “transdemic pandemic” concerns. She shares more pictures on social media of reasonably attended grassroots events, though reporters are not permitted, and more vehicles can be seen driving around the district with Arrington bumper stickers than Mace counterparts. Simultaneously, healthcare questions dominated Mace’s Beaufort County constituent event, not culture wars.

Mace, endorsed by former Trump U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, a former South Carolina governor and congressman, respectively, is hoping Arrington’s firebrand reputation will repel centrist Republicans. It may even prompt some Democrats to vote for her through South Carolina’s open primary process.

“There is a reason why I was able to flip it from Democrat to Republican,” Mace said of the 1st District. “There’s a reason why I’ll be able to keep it in Republican hands this year.”

Arrington counters that she is “a positive candidate” and that 1st District voters want a “down-to-earth straight shooter” who will defend them and their values in Washington.

“Anybody that has met me and actually listened to me, they understand I’m commonsense,” she said.

But Mace’s softer image, which diverges from certain employee and congressional colleague testimonials, spoke to at least one 2018 Arrington voter, Dennis Tauber, 70, who is poised to back Mace.

“I realized that there [is] polarization among the parties and it’s getting worse, which will lead to nothing getting done,” the Beaufort County voter said. “We do need to move forward in many, many areas: taxation, the border, etc. So we do need people who will build consensus and who will work with the other side.”

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The winner of the Mace-Arrington Republican primary will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in the fall.