Nancy Mace is OUSTED from politics after Trump extracts Epstein 'revenge' in South Carolina governor's race

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT Published: 02:21, 10 June 2026 | Updated: 02:26, 10 June 2026 President Donald Trump's revenge tour cost another political career Tuesday night, with Representative Nancy Mace coming in dead last in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, which is heading to a runoff.  Around 9 pm ET, the Associated Press declared that Trump's pick, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, and the state's Attorney General Alan Wilson, would be on the ballot again later this month.  Evette was leading the pack with around 29 percent of the counted ballots, followed closely by Wilson, who hovered around 26 percent. Meanwhile, Mace had garnered around 11 percent of the vote.  The governor's race was primed to be another test of Trump's endorsement strength - though it was always expected to result in a runoff due to the large number of candidates. The President put his weight behind Evette in late May, noting that she was the only candidate of the six Republicans running who had initially backed his 2024 campaign.  Representative Ralph Norman had introduced Trump's White House rival, former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, during her official 2024 launch event in Charleston.  A late May South Carolina Policy Council poll showed Evette with a narrow lead, receiving 16 percent of the vote, followed by Norman, with 15 percent.  After that was Wilson, with 14 percent - whose held his current job since 2011 and is a combat veteran. And then the most nationally known candidate, Mace, in fourth place at 13 percent.  Representative Nancy Mace was coming in dead last when the South Carolina governor's race was called for two of her opponents, who will head to a runoff later this month  The Trump-backed candidate, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, was the top vote getter in early returns and is headed to a runoff later this month against Attorney General Alan Wilson Mace was one of the GOP House members who bucked Trump to push for the release of the Epstein files.  She's been involved in several high-profile controversies and spats - from accusing her ex-fiancé and three of his business associates of sexual and physical abuse, to targeting GOP Representative Cory Mills for expulsion over sexual misconduct, to also tangling with staff at the Charleston airport.  Her ex-fiancé and the three other men have denied the allegations, with one of the businessmen filing a defamation lawsuit against the congresswoman. She's also launched some of the most brutal rhetoric at transgender Americans, including the move to ban transgender Democratic Representative Sarah McBride from using the women's bathrooms on Capitol Hill.  Outsider businessman Rom Reddy has seen his candidacy surging in the weeks ahead of the election. The SCPC poll showed him sitting at 10 percent.  A millionaire born in India, who immigrated to the US as a teenager, Reddy became politically active when he fought the state after installing a sea wall in front of his Isle of Palms beachfront property.  The final GOP candidate, state Senator Josh Kimbrell, was polling at just 1 percent and dropped out just ahead of Election Day, endorsing Wilson. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Trump has been mostly successful with his endorsement kick - killing the political careers of several high-profile Republicans, including Texas Senator John Cornyn, with his endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, after endorsing Representative Julia Letlow, and Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, after backing Ed Gallrein.  But in Iowa last week, Republican voters chose Zach Lahn over the Trump-backed Randy Feenstra in the gubernatorial race. Lahn was an insurgent candidate affiliated with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's Make America Healthy Again movement.  Polling on the Democratic side heavily favored Jermaine Johnson.  Johnson is a state House member and formerly played professional basketball abroad.  The AP called the race for Jackson at 8:45 pm ET.   No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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