Lacore, Honeycutt prevail in 1st District runoffs

MORNING HEADLINES | Lowcountry voters on Tuesday nominated two women leaders as the major party candidates to square off in the 1st Congressional District race to succeed U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican who lost a bid for governor two weeks ago.

In Tuesday’s Democratic runoff, retired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore of Mount Pleasant topped Mount Pleasant lawyer Mac Deford by a 52% to 48% margin. The low-turnout contest brought 24,545 Democratic voters to the runoff polls.

In the Republican runoff that attracted almost two times as many voters, Charleston County Council member Jenny Honeycutt of James Island polled 54% of the votes against Daniel Island funeral home owner and S.C. Rep. Mark Smith.

Expected to challenge Lacore and Honeycutt in the November general election are three third-party candidates – Margo Ellis of the Alliance Party, Libertarian Bill Reeside and independent write-in candidate Clayton Cuteri, according to Ballotpedia.

Tuesday’s runoffs also featured a high-profile and testy GOP gubernatorial race in which S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson shellacked Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette by a 38-point margin. He’ll face Democratic nominee Jermaine Johnson, a member of the S.C. House of Representatives in Richland County, in November.

Other Republican runoff winners were 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo of the Greenwood area, who beat state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown, by a 56% to 44% margin to become the GOP nominee for attorney general. Also, Cody Simpson outpolled Danny Ford II by a 26-point margin to win the party nomination for commissioner of agriculture.

For more election coverage, see this detailed story.

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