Templeton to Challenge Mace for Seat in Congress

BY: JESSICA HOLDMAN/South Carolina Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — The former director of one of South Carolina’s largest state agencies is challenging U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace for the state’s 1st District.

Catherine Templeton announced her run for the coastal district at an event Monday in Mount Pleasant.

“We need a consistent conservative who doesn’t flip flop for fame,” Templeton said in a statement. “An adult to fight for us in Washington who is more interested in policy than politics.”

Mace was not immediately available for comment.

Templeton, who started her career as an anti-union lawyer, touted her record as a “bureaucracy buster.”

In 2010, then-Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Templeton to lead South Carolina’s professional licensing agency. Templeton spent the first year of her appointment fighting the International Association of Machinists and AFL-CIO. The unions sued after Haley said she nominated Templeton because her union-fighting background would help keep unions out of the state.

Then in 2012, the governing board of the Department of Health and Environmental Control — all Haley appointees — chose Templeton to lead that larger agency. She resigned in January 2015.

Templeton laid off state workers to cut the size of both agencies during her tenures.

This is Templeton’s second run for office.

In 2018, she challenged Gov. Henry McMaster in a five-way GOP primary. Her campaign featured her pro-gun stance, which included a colorful TV ad in which she appeared to shoot at a rattlesnake with a revolver. Templeton came in third in the primary, not advancing to the runoff.

In her congressional bid, Templeton is billing herself as a Donald Trump supporter. Meanwhile, Mace has had a somewhat strained relationship with the 45th president.

After Trump beat Haley in New Hampshire’s GOP primary last month, Mace endorsed Trump. But she also voted to impeach him following the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Mace, who beat one-term Rep. Joe Cunningham to flip the seat back to red in 2020, also faced a primary challenge for her 2022 re-election. State Rep. Katie Arrington, R-Summerville, had Trump’s endorsement two years ago, while Mace received the backing of Haley in her home district.

Arrington kicked off Templeton’s announcement.

“I see the last failed Republican primary opponent against me just introduced the next one,” Mace wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.

Republican Austin Anderson has also announced a challenge to Mace. The winner of the June primary will face a Democrat in November. Democrats Michael Moore and Mac Deford are running for the seat.