Catherine Templeton launches GOP primary bid in South Carolina’s First Congressional District as Mace calls her ‘puppet’

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD)- The race for the Republican nomination in South Carolina’s First Congressional District is heating up.

Catherine Templeton, who previously served as director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), officially launched a primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace Monday morning.

“Right now our country is in chaos and the people who are in Washington that are supposed to be fighting for us are failing,” Templeton told the crowd at Water’s Edge Restaurant in Mount Pleasant. “That’s why today my family and I have an announcement to make: I’m Catherine Templeton and I’m running for Congress.”

The announcement now sets the stage for what will likely be a heated clash in the GOP primary between several candidates looking to unseat the congresswoman.

“We need a trusted leader who values service over celebrity. “We need a consistent conservative who doesn’t flip-flop for fame,” Templeton said, likely referring to Mace.

Mace, who has represented the district since 2021, has become a controversial figure within the Republican Party, often bucking the party on key votes.

It is one of those votes that Mace claimed caused former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to launch a “revenge operation” against her. Mace was one of eight House Republicans to vote to oust McCarthy from the Speakership last year.

“Catherine Templeton is nothing more than a puppet in Kevin McCarthy’s bitter revenge operation,” Mace wrote on X (formerly Twitter) minutes before Templeton’s announcement.

There is no clear indication that Templeton has any connection to McCarthy.

Templeton is the latest in a growing field of candidates – Republicans and Democrats – who have announced their intent to run for the congressional seat, which stretches along South Carolina’s coast from the South Santee River to Hilton Head Island.

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. 

Michael Moore, a business executive, and attorney Mac Deford have also announced campaigns for the Democratic primary.

The deadline to file for the race is April 1.