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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace has opened up a sizable lead on her top rival for the Republican gubernatorial nomination – besting four-term attorney general Alan Wilson by 8% in a new survey released by her campaign.
The poll – conducted by Charleston, S.C.-based Meeting Street Insights – showed Mace drawing 25% of the vote among likely GOP primary voters. Wilson was in second place with 17%, while fifth district congressman Ralph Norman came in third with 10% support.
Lieutenant governor Pamela Evette and embattled state senator Josh Kimbrell remained mired in single digits, at 6% and 3%, respectively.
Previous polls taken prior to Mace’s official entry into the race showed her and Wilson running neck and neck. If accurate, this new survey (.pdf) would indicate Mace is experiencing a post-announcement bounce.
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Our @TheWillFolks reports on his allegedly "way too frat-tastic shirt" AND the latest #Crossroads2026 gubernatorial results… pic.twitter.com/GnqilZp4aK
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) August 18, 2025
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“These results prove that our record and our plan for South Carolina is resonating with Republican voters across the state,” Mace said in a statement accompanying the release of the poll. “We’ll keep fighting every day to protect our South Carolina values, push conservative common sense policies forward, and deliver the best results. South Carolina first and always.”
When pollsters pushed the 38% of undecided respondents to indicate a preference, Mace’s support ticked up to 30% compared to 21% for Wilson, 12% for Norman, 7% for Evette and 4% for Kimbrell.
“This survey shows that Congresswoman Nancy Mace is the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary race for Governor,” a memo (.pdf) circulated by Mace’s top strategist Austin McCubbin noted.
McCubbin’s memo specifically cited Mace’s backing among the two-thirds of the GOP electorate which identified itself as “more of a Donald Trump supporter than a traditional Republican party supporter.”
“Mace is winning where it matters: with the base, with Trump supporters, and with voters who will decide the primary,” McCubbin added. “No one else is even close.”
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Wilson’s campaign wasn’t buying that theory, though.
“Mace’s internal polls are about as reliable as her word,” a statement from his campaign noted. “She’s backed men in women’s sports, embraced radical trans ideology, and pandered to the woke left whenever it suited her. Nancy Mace can’t be trusted, and South Carolina voters know it.”
Meeting Street’s survey was conduced between August 11-12, 2025. A total of 600 likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina were polled via cellphone, landline, and text-to-web interviews. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 4%.
Even Mace’s enemies – including veteran national political strategist Wes Donehue – acknowledged the firm which conducted the survey was “legit as fuck.”
The GOP primary is the race to watch in South Carolina. Democrats haven’t won a gubernatorial race since 1998 – and haven’t won a statewide election since 2006. That means whoever captures the Republican nomination is all but assured of prevailing in the general election next November.
BANNER VIA: DYLAN NOLAN
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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14 comments
Mace is batshit crazy. We do not need a repeat of the last female Governor this state was cursed with.
Who are you and what are your credentials? I want this website’s records that have your isp number and access details They are easy to get, ya know. :-)
You go girl!
Do it lady!
Is that you, Chit?
I don’t recall ever voting for a Democrat, but I’ll vote for Mullins McLeod before I vote for Nancy Mace.
“Say it ain’t so” re Mace…. OMG! What a horrendous prospect.
Same here!
90% of those voting for someone other than Mace or Wilson, will not vote for Mace in a run-off between the two.
No career politicians like Norman.
An we not have one decent choice??
The word “f__k seems to roll out of our politicians’ mouths quite often—and also on here quite often—so I will add it to my comment: If these 5 are the F-__king best we can do, we are really F__ked. We used to have some of the best politicians money could buy, but as the old saying goes, a dollar doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to.
Alan Wilson is unelectable.
With all that she has going on in her personal life, I am not sure she has the ability to serve in this role. (She can’t even keep her personal life separate from her job in Congress.)