- BIG STORY, SC-1: Honeycutt, Lacore want to serve in Congress
- ROUNDUP: S.C. infrastructure gets low passing grade on report card
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Grand trees
- BRACK: October trip to showcase listening across America
- MY TURN, Virgil: N.C. brewer says hemp beverage ban will cost S.C. jobs
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Old white house
- FEEDBACK: Hope U.S. wakes up
Thirst for the 1st: Honeycutt, Lacore want to serve in Congress
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | It’s hard for Democrats not to hear the hopeful echoes of 2018 in this year’s 1st Congressional District race between Republican Charleston County Council member Jenny Costa Honeycutt and retired Admiral Nancy Lacore.
Once again, the coastal Lowcountry seat is open, and Democrats have nominated a moderate candidate who can raise money and connect with voters. Once again, President Donald Trump is struggling in the polls. And once again, a blue wave appears to be gaining sufficient force to wash away a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The last time those stars aligned, Joe Cunningham won a nailbiter to become the first Democrat to represent the district since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.
But as Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon told the Charleston City Paper this week, this year’s anticipated blue wave is facing a significantly higher Republican seawall along the Palmetto State coast following the GOP-controlled 2022 redistricting.
“Joe Cunningham won the seat in 2018, but the district lines changed after that,” Huffmon said. “And the two elections since then have been Republican blowouts.”
The size of those blowouts? Fourteen points in 2022 and 17 points in 2024, though Democrats argue that the natural Republican lean of the district is more like six-to-eight points by registration. Either way, Democrats would have to make up real ground to take the seat.
“Gerrymandering is amazing insulation against waves,” Huffmon noted dryly.
Nevertheless, Huffmon said, midterm elections are famously treacherous for the party in power, and Trump’s current political problems are real.
“People are very concerned about affordability, and we’re seeing real concerns about the Iran War as well,” Huffmon said. “So Honeycutt definitely has the advantage, but a lower probability for Lacore doesn’t mean no probability. And ‘lightning in a bottle’ happens somewhere in every election season.”
Still, elections aren’t just about structural forces like waves and gerrymanders. They’re also about people — specifically, the people running for the office.
And with that in mind, the City Paper asked both major party candidates to share their stories — who they are, what shaped them and what they hope to do if elected.
Here’s what they had to say.
Honeycutt: A ‘Lowcountry girl’
Jenny Honeycutt describes herself as an attorney, a small businesswoman, a wife and a mom. And very much a child of the Lowcountry.
“I’ve been down on James Island all my life,” Honeycutt said. “It’s the community I love — where I’ve raised my kids, started a business and served on county council. It shaped my values and who I am.”
She emphasized: “I always tell people that my husband’s mother rode the school bus with my dad. I’m a Lowcountry girl. And being from here really matters to me.”
Asked to name the three issues that matter most to her, she quickly ticked off the economy and national debt, securing the border and improving the Lowcountry’s quality-of-life, particularly in terms of infrastructure.
And while she offered specific policy proposals to address each issue — for instance, directing the income from federal assets toward deficit reduction — she also emphasized the importance of making political friends.
“For too long, this seat has been occupied by members who weren’t focused on building relationships with their colleagues in the people’s house,” she said. “But that’s what it takes to get things done.”
In keeping with that approach, Honeycutt said one of her first priorities would be to win a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, where most federal dollars originate.
“That’s an important place, and it’s been ignored by the anti-earmark candidates who’ve held this seat,” she said, name-checking several local infrastructure projects that need federal funding. “It’s time for the residents of the 1st District to start getting back what they’re paying in.”
And while Honeycutt makes it clear she shares many of the president’s goals, she seemed to reject President Trump’s recent request that voters pretend he’s on the ballot.
“For me, this race is about Jenny Honeycutt, not any other personality,” she said. “It’s about the experience I bring and what I’ve done to serve my community over the past eight years. My message is about serving the Lowcountry with common-sense values.”
Lacore: Service still important
When a line on your resume reads “Admiral, United States Navy,” a lot of other things can fade into the background. But when you ask Nancy Lacore of Mount Pleasant about her life, she talks about her family.
“We have six kids,” she said, a note of pride evident in her voice. “I have a son in the Marine Corps, a daughter who’s a police officer, other daughters studying nursing in college. We’re a very service-oriented family.”
It was that spirit of service, she said, that first led her to become a Navy chopper pilot and now, a candidate for Congress.
“I was 18 when I went into ROTC and then spent 35 years in the Navy,” she said. “So when my career got cut short, I just realized I’m not ready to stop serving.”
Lacore is one of more than 20 high-ranking U.S. military officers who’ve been forced out by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for reasons the Trump administration has never made clear.
“I was never given a reason,” Lacore said simply. “In fact, he didn’t even tell me directly.”
As a result, Lacore found herself executing her retirement plan early, relocating to the Lowcountry to live near family that was already here.
Since then, she said, she’s been listening carefully to Lowcountry residents, and her top three priorities if elected would be affordability, health care and protecting the Lowcountry’s environment.
“My number one issue is driving the cost of living down because that affects everybody,” Lacore said, using her own family as an example. “I have a daughter here who has a really good job and she can’t afford to buy a home.”
To get at all three of her issues, Lacore said several signature Trump policies would need to be reversed — high tariffs on imports, the $1 trillion in federal health care cuts and the broad administrative rollback of environmental protections.
But the one-time moderate Republican turned moderate Democrat made it clear that she’s still open to solutions from both sides of the aisle, noting that she opposes defunding or abolishing police or immigration enforcement.
“My background just fits well with the district,” she said. “I can talk to independents and Republicans — the kind of people who wouldn’t otherwise consider voting for a Democrat.”
Voters head to the polls Nov. 3.
Jack O’Toole is Statehouse bureau chief for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
S.C. infrastructure gets low passing grade on report card
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | Despite multi-billion dollar investments at the federal, state and local levels in recent years, South Carolina’s infrastructure improved only marginally over the past five years, according to a new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Released Sept. 22, the report showed S.C.’s overall infrastructure grade rose from a D-plus in 2021 to a C-minus in 2026.
“South Carolina has responded to changing infrastructure needs and recent investment is helping improve systems that have seen decades of underinvestment,” said report co-chair Renee Gardner in a statement. “While there are signs of progress, the progress is fragile as funding programs expire and infrastructure operators face workforce shortages.”
Grades in specific categories were mixed. Roads, for instance rose from a D to a D-plus, even as bridges fell from a C to a C-minus. And the state’s ports climbed from a B to a B-plus, while drinking water systems dropped from a D-plus to a D.
And while the report lauded the S.C. Department of Transportation reform bill passed earlier this year, it warned that continued population growth will only increase the need for further investments.
Calling the modest progress since 2021 “a floor, not a ceiling,” the report concluded: “Closing the gap requires sustained investment, dedicated funding, and long-term commitment. The choices made now will determine whether this momentum continues — or the hard-won progress of the past five years begins to slip away.”
In other recent news
2026: U.S. Senate race in S.C. shifts slightly toward Andrews. The Cook Political Report shifted the race for U.S. Senate in South Carolina from solidly Republican to likely Republican but says U.S. Sen. Darline Graham is still heavily favored to win against her Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews.
- Graham, Andrews trade attacks as U.S. Senate race enters final stretch
- Trump’s campaign visit to S.C. cost about $100K
- Can a Democrat win in S.C.’s 1st Congressional District?
- When to watch season’s coming debates for governor, Senate, House
STATEHOUSE: S.C. lawmakers cut health insurance for part-time magistrates. South Carolina’s judicial system is bracing for the potential exodus of part-time magistrates who run the state’s rural courts after their health insurance benefits were cut in this year’s state budget.
S.C. Election Commission violated open meetings law, ACLU alleges. The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the state Election Commission in a Richland County court, accusing its members of illegally conducting public business behind closed doors.
How the Winthrop Poll works. A look at how the poll has gathered opinions in S.C. for 20 years.
S.C. gas prices top $4 per gallon. South Carolina drivers are paying more than $4 per gallon for gasoline after prices jumped sharply over the past week, according to new GasBuddy data.
Officials say S.C. needs more housing options for military service members, families. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and state leaders met with commanders from South Carolina’s military installations on Sept. 23, 2026, to discuss the status and needs of each base.
Kershaw Co. hits brakes on data centers. The county on Tuesday enacted a one-year pause on data center development.
Reference to KKK removed from S.C. State exhibit. A 1950s-era KKK pamphlet was removed from the S.C. State Museum exhibition commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary after what museum officials said was an effort to paint a more accurate portrait of the state during the civil rights era.
S.C. has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the U.S. South Carolina has one of the highest rates of traffic deaths in the U.S., according to 4Pointsback.com, an S.C. company that continuously updates traffic safety data in the state.
Grand trees
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for shining a light on critical issues in just the right way. This week, he takes on the nimrods who cut down grand trees that are part of what makes South Carolina special.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Brack: October trip to showcase listening across America
Commentary by Andy Brack, Statehouse Report | Imagine what you would learn about the United States if you took a three-week road trip from South Carolina through Texas to California, returning with stops in Oregon, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri and Georgia.
To say it would be interesting would be an understatement, especially with the political volatility highlighted in today’s headlines. Seems like all we read these days is news about high gas prices, a war most people don’t want, corruption, distrust in government and increasing unease with our place in the world.
So to find out what people are really talking about, we’re launching a short daily video series called Listening Across America. Armed with a GoPro video camera and iPad, we’ll hit the road Oct. 8 and head west to talk with everyday Americans about their thoughts, fears and delights with America as it approaches the 2026 midterm elections. It should be loads of fun – and also will introduce followers on the Charleston City Paper’s web and social media sites to some good places to eat and neat places to visit. (We’re particularly excited to try some of the barbecue and Tex-Mex joints in towns across Texas and New Mexico that Charleston pitmaster John Lewis suggested.)
Along the way, we’ll highlight how vast our country is from sea to shining sea. We’re hoping to hear diverse political and cultural views. We want to know, for example, whether people feel better or worse than four years ago. Or whether they think the country is moving in the right or wrong direction – and why. These insights should inform all of us about what’s happening across America and what we might expect as Republicans and Democrats battle over control of Congress – and whether to rein in President Donald Trump.
We also hope the video series will highlight something else, too – what connects Americans from coast to coast. By showcasing that, we might help to focus on pathways out of the current doldrums that have many people down.
This year’s journey isn’t our first rodeo in trying to figure out what matters to people in Mississippi, New Mexico, Washington state, Montana, Arkansas and South Carolina. Eight years ago, we learned a lot about the country in a five-week video tour that sought to give context to the 2018 elections. The result was a five-part political travelogue called “A Hard Road: Travels in Trump’s America.”
A three-member Australian and American documentary team conducted 130 video interviews about what people were thinking about politics in Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.
While the 2018 interviews focused on issues from race, immigration, trade, tariffs, economic opportunity and more, the topic that connected just about every interview was the driving force of American politics at the time – the nascent and disruptive presidency of Donald Trump. Without prompting, he often became a key point of many interviews. And as you would expect, some hated what he was doing; others loved him.
Much the same is expected in this 2026 version of a political road trip. But divisions may be even more stark. Trump’s second term has been even more disruptive to the foundations of American democracy and leadership for many Democrats and independents – and an increasing number of Republicans. In Listening Across America, we’ll find out what people are really saying about the jambalaya of issues stretching democracy now.
You’ll be able to bookmark what we’re doing when the series website goes live on Oct. 1 at ListeningAcrossAmerica.com. We hope you’ll join us.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
N.C. brewer says hemp beverage ban will cost S.C. jobs
By Jason Virgil | NoDa Brewing Company in Charlotte turns 15 in October.
My mom and stepdad started it as what was supposed to be a retirement project, rolling their 401k savings into a small neighborhood brewery back when craft beer barely existed in Charlotte.
I’ve been part of this family business unofficially since day one, and I joined full-time five years ago after a post-Covid career shift. What started as friends and family chasing a passion for homebrewing has grown into a regional brewery serving five states. But the core tenets of the brewery never changed: build community, treat people well and never compromise on quality.
South Carolina is one of the states where we do business and it matters to us. Last year, we brought our standard for quality to a new category when we launched Happy Bird, our hemp-derived THC and CBD seltzer in March 2025.
I’ll be honest, I had my reservations when we first started exploring the category. Like a lot of people, I carried some outdated assumptions about who actually drinks these products. What changed my mind was hearing about a teammate’s wife, who had mostly stopped drinking alcohol and found in these beverages a way to still unwind at the end of a day.
Once I looked past my own assumptions, I saw the real consumer clearly: people looking for an alternative to a glass of wine or a couple of beers, not people looking to get as high as possible. Today, Happy Bird makes up roughly 11% of our revenue and is sold across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, with more states in conversation if the regulatory picture clears up.
I know what it means to watch a business nearly come apart and rebuild anyway. Covid hit us right after we’d invested heavily in self-distribution and relocated a team to open a new warehouse near Raleigh. Our taproom, a major piece of our business at the time, went to zero overnight.
We did everything we could to avoid furloughing people, leaned on the community and got through it. That experience is part of why I take it seriously when I say a South Carolina ban on hemp beverages isn’t some abstract policy debate. It’s the kind of shock that puts people out of work and closes doors that don’t reopen.
This isn’t only a North Carolina brewery’s problem. It’s a South Carolina problem too. Retailers, restaurants and distributors across the state have built real business around this category, and a ban doesn’t just stop out-of-state brands like ours from selling here. It pulls the shelf space, the tax revenue and the jobs behind it out of South Carolina all at once.
“Over 3,000 jobs would be negatively impacted in South Carolina alone, and the state would lose over $1.5 billion in economic activity,” I tell lawmakers when they ask why this matters beyond a single brewery in Charlotte.
Here’s what I’d say directly to any South Carolina lawmaker considering a ban: killing this category doesn’t solve a problem. It creates one. The demand for these products isn’t going away. Banning them doesn’t make people stop wanting an alternative to alcohol. It just pushes that demand into an unregulated, unsafe market with none of the lab testing and labeling standards that responsible brands already hold themselves to. This is genuinely one of the few issues right now that doesn’t split neatly along party lines. People across the political spectrum just want a safe, legal way to relax and unwind, and the industry itself, not just government regulation, has largely policed that responsibly so far. What we are asking for is simple: government regulation and taxation that is on par with regulations in the alcohol industry.
If you care about this beverage category, whether you drink these products or just believe in fair treatment for a legitimate, tax-paying industry, the most useful thing you can do is make your voice heard. The Hemp Beverage Alliance makes this simple: visit its website, enter your information in their action center and send a letter to your representatives that is already written for you. Edit it if you want or just hit submit.
Support the brands you trust while you’re at it. South Carolina jobs and South Carolina tax dollars are on the line, and that’s a problem we can only fix together.
Jacob Virgil is president of NoDa Brewing Company in Charlotte.
Old white house
This isn’t THAT white house, but it is located somewhere in South Carolina. This week, tell us where and what it is. Please send in your best guess – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com. And if you have a mystery photo to share, send that along too (but tell us what it is because we’re horrible guessers.)
Last week’s mystery, “Lots of wood,” shows the inside of Campbell’s Covered Bridge in Landrum. Mystery sleuth Jay Altman of Columbia tells us the bridge, which showcases wooden framing and plank flooring, was built in 1909 across Beaverdam Creek by Charles Irwin Willis.
The only other person to identify the bridge was George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
Hope U.S. wakes up
To the editor:
It is my hope and prayer that our country awakens from its ‘deep sleep’ of misplaced trust and realizes that we have the wrong tenant in the White House before he jerks his knee again by creating a nuclear disaster.
As you know, ‘little men’ talk tough. But, he is clueless when it comes to dealing with people from the Middle East. They will never deal with someone so untrusting as ‘47.’
– Rob Cooper, Beaufort County, S.C.
Send us your thoughts
Please send us your thoughts about politics and policy in South Carolina, but make sure to leave phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We publish non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your views.
- Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
We can use your help
We’re proud to offer Statehouse Report for free. For more than a dozen years, we’ve been the go-to place for insightful independent policy and political news and views in the Palmetto State. And we love it as much as you do.
But now, we can use your help. If you’ve been thinking of contributing to Statehouse Report over the years, now would be a great time to contribute as we deal with the crisis. In advance, thank you.
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