The GOP primary race in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District is a new front in the battle over former President Trump’s influence on the Republican Party.
Republican former state Rep. Katie Arrington announced she is running to unseat U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, saying the incumbent sold out Mr. Trump and questioning whether she is high on marijuana.
“I’m Katie Arrington, a servant conservative with one mission and that is to prioritize the people of South Carolina’s Low Country by advancing President Trump’s America First agenda,” she said in the video. “Let’s be honest, Nancy Mace is a sellout.”
“She sold out the Low Country,” Mrs. Arrington said, referring to the state’s southern coastal region. “She sold out President Trump. She is more interested in becoming a mainstream media celebrity than fighting for the people she is supposed to represent.”
She said Mrs. Mace’s priorities are a mess, citing her support for legalizing marijuana and then posing the question: “Is Nancy Mace high?”
Mrs. Arrington defeated Rep. Mark Sanford, a leading Trump critic, in the 2018 GOP primary after receiving a late-in-the-game endorsement from Mr. Trump, but lost in the general election to Democrat Joe Cunningham.
Mrs. Mace welcomed the challenge, saying on Twitter: “Bring. It. On.”
Mrs. Mace, the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program at The Citadel, defeated Mr. Cunningham in the 2020 election, making her the first Republican woman to get elected to Congress from South Carolina.
She voted to certify the results of the 2020 election, but also voted against impeaching Mr. Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, describing the impeachment drive as a partisan exercise.
Mrs. Mace has been an on-again, off-again, critic of Mr. Trump.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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