Nancy Mace considering running for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat

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https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/12/nancy-mace-lindsey-graham-senate-seat-00994088

Nancy Mace considering running for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat
She came up short in South Carolina’s GOP primary for governor earlier this year.
By Alec Hernandez
07/12/2026 08:38 AM EDT

Firebrand conservative Rep. Nancy Mace is eyeing a bid for Senate to fill the vacancy left by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death, according to two people familiar with her thinking, granted anonymity to detail private discussions.

The outgoing House member plans to begin polling for her exploratory bid this week, the two people said. She still has money in her federal campaign account from her past runs for Congress.

Mace is set to vacate her coastal House seat early next year, having given up her post to unsuccessfully run for governor this year. Her political future was uncertain following her fifth-place finish in that primary, but the newly open seat offers her a lifeline to extend her tenure in Washington.

This would not be her first time running for Senate. Mace mounted a longshot primary bid against Graham in 2014, but came in a distant fifth place.

Mace may face strong resistance from President Donald Trump, who she clashed with by fighting for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and other key matters. Trump made clear he did not want her to win that gubernatorial run when he endorsed a rival in that primary, and those in his orbit are already raising those disagreements in private as they discuss Graham’s seat, according to two Trump allies.

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