The AP called South Carolina's 1st District for retired Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore on Friday. Next week, the House is set to vote on impeaching the man who removed her.
By Joseph Jackson | TAMPA (Nov. 7, 2026)
The short version
The AP called the race at 6:51 p.m. Friday: Lacore 49.7%, Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt 48.6%, with 99% of the vote counted.
Republican Nancy Mace won the coastal district by 17 points in 2024. She gave up the seat to run for governor.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed Lacore as chief of the Navy Reserve in 2025. She says she was never told why.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A retired Navy vice admiral fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has won a Republican-held House seat in South Carolina, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Associated Press called the 1st Congressional District for Democrat Nancy Lacore at 6:51 p.m. Friday. She had 49.7% to Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt's 48.6%, with 99% of the vote counted.
How she won a red seat
Republicans redrew the district after the 2020 census to make it safer for the GOP, and Mace won it by 17 points in 2024, Yahoo News reported. Lacore carried Berkeley and Dorchester counties, longtime Republican strongholds, according to The Post and Courier.
The district covers Charleston and much of South Carolina's coast. Mace left it to run for governor.
Lacore declared victory Wednesday after ballot-counting problems delayed results, and said Honeycutt's campaign had called to concede, Live 5 News reported. Mace congratulated her the same morning.
Who is Nancy Lacore?
Lacore served 35 years in the Navy. She started as a helicopter pilot, rose to three-star admiral and ran the Navy Reserve, The Washington Sun reported.
Hegseth removed her in 2025. She was one of more than a dozen senior officers he pushed out that year, and she says she was given no explanation. Live 5 News reported that she was removed too soon to retire with the vice admiral title.
When she launched her campaign, she wrote that she had been "removed from my position without cause," ABC News reported. The Defense Department did not respond to ABC's request for comment on that claim at the time.
What comes next
Lacore has said she wants a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, the panel that oversees the Pentagon. She joins a wave of veteran candidates: 258 were on the ballot this year, up 21% from 2024, according to With Honor Action.
Her win comes days before the House is expected to vote on eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, which Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., says he will force the week of Nov. 9, as FMNN reported. Trump has also weighed replacing Hegseth, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among the names floated, FMNN reported.
Related reading
Impeach Hegseth? Here's the Bill: $47.1 Billion, 18 Dead, 81 Aircraft
Trump Weighs Replacing Hegseth With DeSantis as Impeachment Vote Nears
Sources
Washington Examiner — https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/4790136/nancy-mace-jenny-costa-honeycutt-south-carolina-1st-district-results/
Yahoo News live updates — https://yahoo.com/news/politics/live/midterms-2026-election-results-and-latest-updates-mississippi-votes-still-being-counted-in-senate-nail-biter-after-democrats-take-control-of-congress-200037541.html
The Washington Sun — https://www.washingtonsun.com/campaigns/nancy-lacore-nancy-mace-south-carolina-district
Live 5 News (WCSC) — https://www.live5news.com/2026/11/04/lacore-claims-sc-01-victory-says-costa-honeycutt-conceded-race/
ABC News via Yahoo — https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/navy-admiral-removed-hegseth-announces-003449239.html
Times Union — https://timesunion.com/capitol/article/fired-hegseth-albany-native-now-headed-congress-22514307.php
The Washington Post results — https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/2026/11/03/south-carolina-1st-house-district-live-updates/