The start of the 119th Congress has been a roller coaster ride, and two Republican representatives from South Carolina appear to want to be back in the state capital, Columbia, more than in the District of Columbia.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., kicked off his campaign to be governor of South Carolina on Sunday. Norman has been one of the House of Representatives’ most vocal fiscal hawks since he came to Washington in 2017, joining the House Freedom Caucus in its showdowns with both Republican and Democratic leaderships.

“I am running for governor to shake things up, clean up Columbia, and finally take down the corrupt political establishment once and for all,” Norman said in a statement announcing his run Monday.  

“I owe nothing to the lobbyists. I owe nothing to the Columbia bureaucratic elite. My allegiance is to you, the people of South Carolina,” he said.

Since his announcement, Norman has racked up endorsements from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, himself a former member of the House from North Carolina, and from former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

But he’ll likely have some competition in the form of Rep. Nancy Mace, a fellow South Carolina Republican. 

A representative from the Charleston area, Mace has been in Congress since 2021. In recent months, she has gained national recognition for her opposition to transgender ideology, as well as to transgender-identifying males’ access to women’s bathrooms in the Capitol building. 

She has been less than subtle in teasing a potential gubernatorial run.

“I’ve been going around the state and also meeting with leaders around the country on how we can make South Carolina the best state in the country by lowering our state income tax, over the next five years, to zero,” Mace said Monday on Fox when asked about her gubernatorial ambitions.

“I’m going to work hard for South Carolina in the event I make the decision to do this very soon,” she added.

South Carolina politics are dominated by Republicans. The state has a second-term GOP governor, Henry McMaster, and lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette; a GOP state attorney general, Alan Wilson; Republican supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature; two GOP U.S. senators; and just one Democrat in its seven-member congressional delegation.

Evette, Wilson, and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell are also seeking the Republican nomination. The gubernatorial primary is set for June 2026.

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