More voters turned out for the Republican runoff between Mark Smith and Nancy Mace than in the actual primary. And Mace walked away with over 60 percent of the votes, dashing the former town council member's efforts. Mace now faces off with Cindy Boatwright, a Mount Pleasant democrat.
Mace is a businesswoman and mother of two. She holds a MA in mass communication from the University of Georgia. She was also the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in 1999.
Her opponent did not mince words when asked her thoughts on the outcome of the runoff. Boatwright, a mental health counselor said, "I think the people of District 99 need to look into Nancy Mace's past and her lack of truthfulness and judgement. We do not need another political insider with strong ties to our former Statehouse representative who was ousted for corruption in our state government," Boatwright said. "We need a representative who will work to clean up the corruption in our state government and act with integrity. I would not be making these comments if Mark Smith were my opponent. He is an honest businessman with ethical standards. I am going to flip this seat."
Mace, however did not have a comment about her opponent and said she was going to run a positive issue oriented campaign like she did in the primary. "Voters want to know how I am going to tackle the issues and that's what my campaign will be about. That is my focus."
In addition, she said, "I am pleased with the campaign and the results. The turnout was remarkable considering it was a special election runoff."
Mace said she was grateful for her family's support. "They were so generous of their time during this campaign while I went door to door talking to the constituents learning and understanding the issues. From that I saw first hand how very different each community is," Mace said.
She said she will continue to meet with constituents and small business owners and drill down into their concerns and issues moving forward. "However, the issues remain the same across the board for small business owners and voters. Those issues are first and foremost infrastructure and roads and a lot about the nuclear power plant mess," she said. "Also very important are taxes and ethics reform. Those will be my core issues that I'll be focused on going forward and in the legislature as well."
In 2008 Mace started a boutique technology, marketing and public relations firm. Former clients include then U.S. Representatives Tim Scott and Mick Mulvaney, S.C. State Sen. Tom Davis, S.C. State Sen. Larry Grooms and others. Mace also served as Coalitions Director and Field Director for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc; she worked in seven different states during the 2016 presidential primaries.