Overview
- Republican voters in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary left Rep. Nancy Mace in fifth place on Tuesday, and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson advanced to a June 23 runoff.
- President Trump’s late May endorsement of Evette is widely credited with shifting short‑term momentum in the crowded field and shaping who reached the runoff.
- Mace says she lost Trump’s backing because she joined a bipartisan discharge petition that forced a House vote to compel the Justice Department to release files tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
- After the loss Mace posted on X that she would seek “revenge” on Trump and promised to be “more of a menace than ever,” and she has said she will leave Congress when her term ends in January 2027.
- The Epstein‑files fight has produced intra‑party retribution against Republicans who pushed for transparency, and that internal conflict could influence endorsements, party unity, and messaging going into the runoff and the 2026 cycle.