Republican Catherine Templeton looking to oust Nancy Mace in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – A new challenger is set to announce her candidacy against Congresswoman Nancy Mace for a seat in South Carolina’s First Congressional District.
Republican Catherine Templeton will formally launch her campaign during an announcement in Mount Pleasant on Monday morning.
Templeton is the former President of US Brick, which is headquartered in Charleston where she resides; however, she may be most known in Palmetto State politics for her gubernatorial run in 2018.
A native of Lexington, South Carolina, Templeton attended both Wofford College and the University of South Carolina School of Law. She was appointed by Nikki Haley to serve as director of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation in December 2010 and later named director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) in 2012.
Templeton later launched a bid for South Carolina governor in 2018 amid a field of five candidates. She placed third in the Republican primary behind Henry McMaster and John Warren. McMaster went on to win that election.
Templeton is the latest in a growing field of candidates – Republican and Democrats – who have announced their intent to run for Mace’s congressional seat.
Mace has been vocal on social media fearing that former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would back a strong primary challenger after voting to oust him last year.
“I am in the fight of my life. I literally just found out that Kevin McCarthy recruited a woman to run against me in the Republican primary in South Carolina,” she said in a Jan. 30 video posted to X.
Mace was elected to serve SC’s 1st Congressional District in 2020 and won a re-election campaign in 2022.
Mace’s former chief of staff, Don Hanlon, filed to run against his former boss last month. The Congresswoman is also running against Austin Anderson, a 27-year-old Uber driver who declared his candidacy for the GOP primary last February.
Democrats Michael Moore, a business executive, and attorney Mac Deford have also announced their campaigns against Mace.
Templeton’s official announcement will take place Monday morning at Shem Creek.
