Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, advanced to a Democratic primary runoff for the First Congressional District of South Carolina, according to The Associated Press.
Also advancing to a runoff against Ms. Lacore is Mac Deford, a Coast Guard veteran who was previously the general counsel for the town of Hilton Head Island.
Whoever wins the runoff on June 23 will face a daunting task in the fall: flipping a seat currently held by a Republican, Representative Nancy Mace, who ran unsuccessfully for governor instead of seeking re-election. The coastal district was redrawn in 2021 to be more reliably Republican. Ms. Mace won re-election by double digits in each of her past two elections.
But Ms. Lacore has a higher-than-average profile for a political newcomer. Last August, she was fired by Mr. Hegseth after 35 years in the Navy. She has said she was given no cause for the firing, which came at a time when Mr. Hegseth was removing military officials who had delivered intelligence assessments that angered President Trump.
From the start of her campaign, Ms. Lacore has proved to be a prolific fund-raiser. She raised $500,000 in her first two weeks as a candidate and raised more than $1.4 million through late May, according to federal campaign finance records.
Ms. Lacore is also one of 12 House candidates nationwide this cycle who are backed by the Bench, a group led by longtime Democratic strategists that recruits and advises candidates in both traditional battleground districts and contests that are seen as harder to win.
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