Nancy Mace's electoral prospects may have just become a little dimmer.
Using his kingmaker status, former president Donald Trump has decided to endorse Katie Arrington. The move could shake up the Republican primary in South Carolina's 1st District, as Mace is the incumbent Republican congresswoman. She also has a high-profile for a freshman Member of Congress.
Trump announced his “complete and total” support for Arrington on Wednesday. Besides serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives, Arrington has run for Congress twice.
She came closest to winning in 2018 but ultimately fell one point short to Democrat Joe Cunningham in the race for the 1st District. Cunningham's victory marked the first time in 38 years a Democrat held the Charleston-based seat.
Although Arrington's general election campaign was derailed after she was grievously injured by a drunk driver.
Despite Mace defeating Cunningham in 2020, Trump called her “an absolutely terrible candidate” and “very disloyal.”
In a tweet, Arrington said she was “honored” to receive Trump's endorsement.
Although Arrington made her pro-Trump views front and center in her 2018 congressional campaign, she appeared critical of the future president during the 2016 presidential primaries and endorsed Marco Rubio's campaign.
An Inevitable Day of Reckoning?
Mace first drew Trump's ire when she largely blamed him for instigating the pro-Trump mob that breached the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Appearing on “Meet the Press” 11 days after the riot that injured 140 police officers and resulted in the death of unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, Mace said that Trump “put all of our lives at risk.”
Of course, her words weren't uttered in a vacuum. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called on Trump to “accept his share of responsibility” for the riot mere days before Mace's television appearance.
Regardless, Trump's feelings toward Mace have only hardened.
His announcement came shortly after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley endorsed Mace. Haley, the Trump administration's ambassador to the United Nations for two years, was effusive in her praise. She called Mace “a fighter who stands up to Biden's reckless spending, punches back against lawless lockdowns and mandates, & is strong on border security.”
An Interesting Response
Aware of Trump's sway with the GOP base, Mace appeared in a video on Thursday in front of Trump Tower in New York City — despite the insults the former president lobbed at her.
As The Hill reports:
“I remember in 2015 when President Trump announced his run, I was one of his earliest supporters. I actually worked for the campaign in 2016. I worked at seven different states across the country to help get him elected,” she said, standing in front of Trump Tower in New York City. “I supported him again in 2020 because of policies I believed in.”
She said the former president “made America safer” and praised him for lowering taxes and other policies. She said she would be Republicans' best chance to keep South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, suggesting that if her challenger Katie Arrington won the primary, a Democrat would win the seat.
“If you want to lose this seat once again in the midterm election cycle to Democrats, then my opponent is more than qualified to do just that,” Mace said.
South Carolina's 1st District has a partisan lean of R+17 after redistricting. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the winner of the GOP primary will likely win the general election.
However, the success of Trump's endorsements in 2022 will demonstrate whether his hold on the GOP remains as strong as before. So far there's some evidence it may be slipping. A recent poll of the GOP primary for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat has Rep. Ted Budd trailing establishment favorite Pat McCrory. Meanwhile, neither David Perdue nor Mo Brooks have broken away from their Trump disliked competitors.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with Trump's endorsement of Arrington or is he going too far attacking fellow Republicans over perceived disloyalty?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Trump’s petty grievances and mucking around in these southern states can blow up big time to the potential loss of winnable seats for the GOP! The stupid POS didn’t learn anything from the double Georgia loss that cost the Republicans the control of the Senate. Kick that STUPID POS to the curb!
So I am guessing you voted for the stupidest, most worthless (and we’ve had Obama and Carter) president in our history! We don’t know whether the muslim was smart or not because he had all records hidden, but he was worthless. Carter was just worthless.
Interesting that this site has attracted a “never Trumper”. How sad! I believe that DJT’s annoyance with various individuals are definitely warranted. He has been sabotaged on practically every front since the day he won the 2016 election.
He actually achieved great things for our nation at home and internationally in spite of the saboteurs, Communists, other radicals, and the misguided who vote for personality above “know how”! When I first voted for him, I wanted a business man for the big, complex business which is the United States. Sadly, he had no clue how deep and wide and subversive the “swamp” was!
I trust Trumps judgment on these issues. He saw firsthand who were Rinos and who were just taking up space. Trump was the best President we’ve had in my lifetime, and I go back before Eisenhour.
This is not a good time for Katie Arrington to run in my opinion. First and foremost, we need the GOP to win back a majority in both the House and Senate. That’s going to be a great challenge to win back the House. Our incumbent, Nancy Mace, presents our best option to maintain this seat as a Republican. She beat a very popular Democrat…Joe Cunningham. She has shown to present herself as a conservative with some moderate stances that can move swing votes to her as well.
Katie didn’t beat the democrat before. She’s had a tumultuous past 3 years in her DoD position to which she was appointed. And her rant against former SC Governor and 1st District Congressman Mark Sanford after she lost to Democrat Joe Cunningham was quite unbecoming of the position to which I voted for her. I lost a lot of respect watching that debacle.
Katie has great energy and passion and good conservative stances but I believe her campaign will be ugly and she’ll fragment the local party. That could hurt our best chance to retain the seat currently held by a solid contender…Nancy Mace.