CHARLESTON, S.C. — The race for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District has tightened in the eyes of two national election forecasters, less than three weeks before voters settle it.
The Cook Political Report moved the contest from Likely Republican to Lean Republican in an Oct. 16 analysis. That rating still makes the Republican the favorite, but it marks the seat as more competitive than before. A day earlier, on Oct. 15, Inside Elections made the identical change.
The open seat pits Democrat Nancy Lacore, a retired Navy admiral, against Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt, a member of Charleston County Council. Cook pointed to Lacore’s fundraising, which has given her an early edge in spending, and to Democratic attacks on Honeycutt over real estate development and her backing of data center construction. It also noted that Honeycutt now has coordinated spending from the National Republican Congressional Committee plus outside backing from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a sign both parties see a real contest.
The district covers most of Charleston County plus parts of Dorchester and Berkeley counties and Beaufort County. Democrats flipped it in 2018, making it one of the most Republican seats to change hands that year. Cook moved 11 House races toward Democrats in the same Oct. 16 update.
Lacore’s campaign, in a statement, said this was the second time Cook has shifted the race in her direction. Her campaign biography lists 35 years in the Navy, starting as a helicopter pilot and ending as a three-star admiral who led the Navy Reserve, with deployments to Afghanistan in 2011 and Djibouti in 2017.
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