Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is projected to flip a Republican-held House seat in South Carolina, likely delivering Democrats a striking victory in a district President Donald Trump won comfortably just two years ago. Decision Desk HQ projected Lacore would defeat Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District race for the seat held by Republican Representative Nancy Mace, who gave it up to launch an unsuccessful campaign for governor. Lacore led by more than 3,300 votes, 49.65 percent to 48.64 percent, according to unofficial results.
The had not called the contest as of Wednesday afternoon. The Democrat said Wednesday that Honeycutt's campaign had contacted her to concede the race. Honeycutt also issued a statement thanking her supporters and saying her "commitment to the people I love and the place I call home will never waver." "The voters of the Lowcountry have spoken, and they've made their choice clear.
I'm honored to be the next Congresswoman from South Carolina's First Congressional District," Lacore said in a statement to WSAV. Newsweek contacted the campaigns of Lacore and Honeycutt for additional comment Wednesday. Her projected victory comes little more than a year after Hegseth removed her as chief of the Navy Reserve, ending her 35-year military career.
The result also represents a striking political reversal for Hegseth: The admiral he removed from one of the Navy's most senior posts made his leadership of the Pentagon an issue in her campaign and is now poised to represent a district Trump carried by 13 percentage points in 2024. Lacore, a retired three-star vice admiral, began her Navy career as a helicopter pilot and eventually became chief of the Navy Reserve, overseeing approximately 60,000 sailors. She also completed two deployments over more than three decades in uniform.
Hegseth removed her from that position in August 2025. No reason was publicly given for her dismissal, which came amid a series of removals of senior military officers under Hegseth. Lacore subsequently turned that military record into a central part of her congressional campaign.
She also turned the man who fired her into a political foil. Lacore repeatedly criticized Hegseth's management of the military and said that politics and religion were being thrust into the armed forces. "People are just concerned about the injection of politics and religion into the military," Lacore told USA Today before the election.
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