Nancy Mace WINS South Carolina primary in blow to Kevin McCarthy's vengeance crusade

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Nancy Mace has emerged victorious over a contentious primary challenge backed by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

The AP called the race at 8:40 p.m. in Mace's favor over Catherine Templeton, a state official who claimed to be more conservative than Mace. Mace won the primary with 57.6% of the vote at the time the race was called.

Mace won her last election 56-42 over Democrat Annie Andrews and is heavily favored to win in November. 

Mace was the first McCarthy foe to take on a credible primary threat. 

The congresswoman drew McCarthy's ire when she voted with seven other Republicans and all Democrats to oust him from the speakership. 

McCarthy's political action committee, Majority Committee PAC, made a $10,000 donation to Templeton in April and American Prosperity Alliance, where McCarthy ally Brian Walsh serves as a senior adviser, has spent over $2 million to defeat Mace. 

Nancy Mace faces off against a primary challenger with the pivotal, behind-the-scenes backing of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy , Catherine Templeton, on Tuesday

The race has become one of the most expensive House races in South Carolina history - outside groups have spent close to $5 million either attacking Mace or boosting Templeton. 

Rep. Bob Good, the Freedom Caucus chair who voted to oust the speaker, will take on Trump-backed John McGuire next week.  

The 46-year-old mother of two has been accused by her critics of 'flip-flopping for fame,' - most especially in her relationship with former President Donald Trump. 

'We make light of it, it's kind of funny. I've joked that I'm the prodigal daughter to him,' Mace told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview last month. 

Trump had endorsed Mace - who was locked in a high-dollar primary - weeks after she snubbed one-time friend Nikki Haley to back him.

Trump had once called her 'crazy' and a 'terrible person' and in 2022 endorsed her primary challenger. In 2016, she was blacklisted from his campaign events. 

'We project [McCarthy] is going to spend between he will spend between $4 and 5 million in the primary to try to buy this seat,' Mace said of the race. 

Mace said the former speaker's political career is 'down the tubes' and he's now taken to extracting vengeance on the Republicans who voted to oust him.

Mace is defending her Charleston-area seat against frontrunner Templeton, a former state agency head, and political newcomer Bill Young.

The race has become one of the most expensive House races in South Carolina history - outside groups have spent close to $5 million either attacking Mace or boosting Templeton, above

Mace said Templeton's deeply conservative views and anti-abortion stance would lose them the general election if she was successful in a primary. 'She was the last person they asked and the only one who said yes,' said Mace.

'I don't tow the party line,' she said. 'Forty percent of our electorate are independent voters ... I represent a pro-choice district.'

'McCarthy put up someone against me who's on record opposing all exceptions. Opposing rape exceptions, incest, exceptions, opposing exceptions for life of the mother. So if you're a young woman with an ectopic pregnancy, she's okay with you dying. She's okay. She's on record saying you should die, basically.'

In February, McCarthy told reporters he hopes Mace 'gets the help to straighten out her life.' 

'She's got a lot of challenges,' he said.  

Mace's policy views vacillate between moderate and deeply conservative. She opposes outright abortion bans but voted out McCarthy over the debt ceiling deal which she did not believe was conservative enough. 

She voted against a foreign aid package for Ukraine but also voted against a bill that will ban TikTok if it does not divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance. 

Mace has made a name for herself on women's issues.

Mace drew McCarthy's ire when she voted with seven other Republicans and all Democrats to oust him from the speakership

'We have such a slim majority anyway, and [McCarthy] did a s***y job in the 22 cycle. We lost seats we should have won, had we not buried our hat head in the sand on abortion post-Roe.'

Capitol Hill life was 'lonely' after she voted to boot McCarthy, Mace said. But she saw it as a 'unifying event' - every Republican came out behind now-Speaker Mike Johnson after three frenzied, speakerless weeks.

Since then, Johnson has lost more GOP votes than McCarthy in a motion to vacate - 11 to McCarthy's eight - but held onto his job thanks to help from Democrats.

Mace once said Trump's 'entire legacy was wiped out' during the January 6, 2021 riot. She told staff she wanted to get punched in the face by rioters so she could be 'the face of the anti-Trump movement.'