Editor’s Note: This story was first published in the Charleston City Paper.
Conventional political wisdom in South Carolina says that incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of Isle of Palms effectively won reelection to represent the First Congressional District in May. That’s when six conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled her highly gerrymandered, overwhelmingly Republican district was legal.
But her Democratic opponent, businessman and former International African American Museum President Michael B. Moore, says in this case, at least, the conventional wisdom is just plain wrong.
“We’re pulling together a broad coalition of Democrats, of course, but also of independents and moderate Republicans,” Moore told the City Paper in a recent interview. “What I’m hearing is that Nancy [Mace] has worn out her welcome with all the antics and media attention, and that voters are looking for someone who really wants the job.”
The City Paper asked Mace’s campaign office for an interview about the election, but was rebuffed.
Congressional stunts
The “antics” Moore alluded to have been a core feature of the Mace brand since she arrived in the Capitol in 2021. Whether it was walking the halls of Congress with a scarlet letter “A” affixed to her dress, or lamenting a missed opportunity for morning sex at the National Prayer Breakfast, or joining with a band of rogue Republicans to bring down a House Speaker of her own party, Mace is an attention magnet. And as a result, the outsized press coverage she gets has made her a lightning rod for criticism, even among fellow conservatives.
“Watching Mace continue to embarrass herself is both amusing as an observer of D.C. and sad on a human level,” conservative commentator Jeffrey Blehar wrote recently in the National Review, adding that the combination of political calculation and attention-seeking behavior have made her “the Ted Cruz of Lauren Boeberts.”
But Mace has said she’s not fighting for attention, she’s fighting for her constituents – and getting things done, according to reports.
“When Hamas invaded Israel, my team worked around the clock to help evacuate over two dozen Lowcountry residents who were stranded in Israel,” Mace noted in a Sept. 23 forum. “I take on the tough fights … [and] whether you vote for me or not, I work for you.”
Contrasting styles and issues
The Sept. 23 forum, hosted by the Charleston Jewish Federation, gave both candidates an opportunity to focus on what they saw as critical issues in the race.
For Moore, that meant challenging the incumbent on issues like abortion, where Mace has sought to present herself as a moderate.
“Look, it’s fine to talk one way, but you’ve got to look at how someone votes,” Moore said. “When you vote against [codifying] Roe v. Wade, when you vote against laws that would allow IVF, when you vote against women in the military having access to reproductive care, it doesn’t matter what you say. Your votes stand on their own.”
For her part, Mace drew a hard line on the issue of illegal immigration, where Moore favors combining strong border security with a pathway to citizenship.
“I believe that if you’re here illegally, you gotta go home,” Mace said during the forum. “We have a process to come here legally and earn the right to citizenship and we need to follow our laws – full stop.”
The other major area of contention during the debate was flooding, where Mace touted her record of bringing home the bacon for major projects.
“I’ve worked with all levels of government, from the governor’s office down to our mayors and county supervisors, to find authorizations and funding,” Mace said. “One of the things I’m most proud of in the work I’ve done in Congress is being able to identify grant funding … for stormwater development and flooding.”
But Moore wasn’t buying it, noting Mace has been called a “climate denier” by major environmental groups, and pointing to a study that says the 1st Congressional District faces greater threats from climate change than any other in the country.
“This is a hair-on-fire moment,” Moore said. “We have to get serious about this.”
But does Moore have a path?
In 2020, Mace narrowly defeated then-incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham in what was then a competitive district. The following year, Republican supermajorities in the state legislature redrew the lines, moving about 30,000 Black voters into different congressional districts. Mace then went on to win reelection against Annie Andrews by 14 points in 2022 – almost exactly the Republican numerical advantage created by the legislature.
The new district was initially struck down in 2023 by a federal court, which found that it illegally disenfranchised Black voters. But earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the district could stand because the gerrymandering was motivated by partisan politics rather than race, per se.
But Moore – the great-great grandson of Reconstruction-era icon Robert Smalls, who represented the Lowcountry in Congress in the 1880s before Jim Crow disenfranchised Blacks across the South – says he still sees a legitimate path to victory.
First, he says, as a successful entrepreneur with a master’s degree in business administration from Duke University he “speaks moderate Republican” better than most Democrats – a key strength in the 1st District.
“Nikki Haley beat Donald Trump in the presidential primary here,” Moore said. “This isn’t a MAGA district. So independents and moderate Republicans are an important part of the puzzle for us.”
And second, he believes Vice President Kamala Harris’s presence at the top of the ticket will work alongside his own to increase turnout in the minority community.
“In the last cycle, if Dr. Andrews had gotten just half of the voters of color in the district [out to the polls], she’d have won,” Moore said. “So, we’ve been out engaging with voters broadly, but also working hard to inspire and give voters of color a reason to vote.”
That’s the path through the heavily gerrymandered district as Moore sees it. Voters will determine whether he – or the conventional wisdom – is right when they go to the polls Nov 5.
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