A retired Navy vice admiral who was forced out of the military by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken the first concrete step in an unexpected second act: a campaign for Congress. Nancy Lacore has advanced to a June 23 runoff in the Democratic primary for the South Carolina House seat that Rep. Nancy Mace is vacating, after no candidate cleared the 50 percent threshold needed to win the nomination outright.
Lacore will face attorney Mac Deford, a former local government lawyer and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, in the head-to-head runoff. The two emerged at the top of a crowded primary field, setting up a two-week sprint to decide who carries the Democratic banner into November.
From the Navy Reserve to the Ballot
Lacore is not a typical first-time candidate. She spent more than three decades in uniform, rising from a Navy pilot to the rank of vice admiral, and served as chief of the Navy Reserve. That career came to an abrupt end last August, when Hegseth removed her along with dozens of other senior military leaders in a sweeping shakeup of the Pentagon’s top ranks.
Rather than retreat into a quiet retirement, Lacore turned her dismissal into the centerpiece of a political campaign. Her candidacy frames the firing not as an ending but as a reason to seek public office — a pitch that resonated with enough Democratic primary voters to push her into a one-on-one runoff against Deford.
Why the Seat Is Open
The contest exists because Nancy Mace is leaving the House seat behind. Her departure opened up South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, drawing a wide field of candidates from both parties hoping to claim it. On the Democratic side, the large number of contenders split the vote enough that no one reached a majority, triggering the runoff under South Carolina’s election rules.
For Democrats in the district, June 23 is the day that narrows the choice to one. Whoever wins becomes the party’s nominee for the general election — but that nomination comes with a significant caveat.
A Primary Win, Not a Ticket to Congress
It is important to be clear about what this race is and what it is not. Advancing in the Democratic primary is a meaningful step, but it is not the same as a path to Washington. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates South Carolina’s 1st District as solidly Republican, meaning the eventual Democratic nominee faces steep odds in the fall. The seat is widely expected to remain in GOP hands.
That reality does not erase the significance of the moment. A senior military officer pushed out by the Pentagon’s leadership is now standing in front of voters and asking them to send her back into public service — this time as an elected official rather than a commissioned one. The symbolism of that journey, win or lose in November, is hard to ignore.
What This Means for Americans
The race raises a broader question about accountability and political consequences. When career military leaders are removed for reasons that critics see as political, what recourse do they have? Lacore’s answer has been to take her case directly to voters — testing whether a record of decades in uniform can translate into electoral support, even in unfriendly territory. The outcome of the runoff will say something about how a Democratic electorate views military service, the Pentagon shakeup, and the candidates asking to represent them.
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