Rep. Tom Rice lost his primary contest by a narrow margin to South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry, while Rep. Nancy Mace narrowly avoided the runoff with her opponent Katie Arrington in a tough primary on Tuesday night.
Rice is in the lead over Fry with 25 percent and Fry with 51 percent with more than 95 percent of the precincts that report in the 7th Congressional District According the The New York Times.
For Mace she is ahead of Arrington by 53 percent to 45 percent, and the precincts reporting 88 percent within the 1st Congressional District. The Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman called the race for Mace at 10:55 Eastern Time. (See live results below . Click on the “Change Race” option at the top of each map, to switch between the two races.)
There are others who are in the same race, and in the event that one candidate falls below 50%, it will be the runoff. But, it doesn't seem likely, given the number of votes have been counted so far.
Mace and Rice were the target by former president Donald Trump, as Mace is often critical of Trump and Rice supported his after Jan. Impeachment vote on Jan. 6.
“Katie Arrington's policies are perfect, she's a hard worker and she loves the great state of South Carolina, where she has the tremendous backing of almost all who know her — especially when she is compared to Nancy Mace!” Trump declared in an Save America PAC statement on Sunday.
On a national scale, Rice keeps a low-key appearance in comparison to Mace who often appears on news channels. It's difficult to determine how this translates in the real world for both candidates. Mace's distinctive brand could have helped her win an easier win than her opponent.
If there's any lesson to learn from this evening, as well as every other night in the primary thus to date, it's that Trump's endorsement of the GOP isn't a perfect mix. While it definitely gives several candidates a boost but it's not going to put all of them to the brink. Each congressional district is different with its own issues and specific political environment, making it difficult to assign a universal advantage to his endorsement.
