Nancy Mace’s disastrous bid for South Carolina governor produced one final indignity on live television.
As CNN analyzed Tuesday night’s Republican primary results, the network’s election team briefly appeared to forget the congresswoman was even in the race.
While discussing the contest between South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson, CNN host Kaitlan Collins noted that Mace’s name was nowhere to be seen among the leading candidates.
“We’re looking at those top three people. I don’t see Nancy Mace’s name on that list,” Collins said to data analyst John King.
The oversight prompted King to scroll further down the results board in search of the congresswoman.
“You’ve got to come way down here below the businessman Rom Reddy,” King said.
“Nancy Mace...the congresswoman, Trump foe, at the bottom of the pack.”
The moment quickly underscored just how badly Mace’s campaign had unraveled.
The Republican congresswoman finished a distant fifth in the crowded GOP primary despite spending months trying to position herself as one of Donald Trump’s most loyal allies.
With roughly two-thirds of ballots counted Tuesday night, Mace was polling at just 11.6 percent, well behind Evette and Wilson, who advanced to a runoff after neither candidate secured a majority.
Mace conceded defeat shortly afterward.
“Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life,” she wrote on X.
“This isn’t the end of the fight. It’s just the end of this chapter.”
The loss marked a stunning end to Mace’s political evolution from Trump critic to self-described “MAGA Mace”—a reinvention that ultimately failed to win his endorsement.
After months of speculation, Trump backed Evette in the closing days of the race, calling the lieutenant governor a “good friend, fighter and WINNER.”
Mace responded by repeatedly sharing an AI-generated photo of herself and Trump smiling widely at the camera together while flashing a thumbs-up.
In the end, it wasn’t enough.
Evette and Wilson will now advance to a Republican primary runoff after neither secured more than 50 percent of the vote.
Mace, meanwhile, finished behind not only the two runoff contenders but also businessman Rom Reddy and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell.
For a candidate who spent months branding herself as “Trump in high heels,” the fifth-place finish was a bruising rejection from Republican voters.
