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Mace bids to keep Charleston-area House seat for Republicans

FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, file photo U.S. House candidate Nancy Mace speaks at a campaign event in North Charleston, S.C. In her first reelection campaign, U.S. Rep. Mace said Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, that she’s raised more than any other South Carolina congressional candidate thus far for 2022, seeking to maintain the GOP's hold on a district that has changed party hands twice in as many election cycles. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
Meg Kinnard/AP
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AP
FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, file photo U.S. House candidate Nancy Mace speaks at a campaign event in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is seeking to hang on to her Charleston-area U.S. House seat in Tuesday's election after control of that South Carolina district has seesawed in recent years between Democrats and the GOP.

The freshman congresswoman faces challenger Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who supports access to abortions in the red state and greater restrictions on guns in a bid to stop waves of U.S. shooting violence. Meanwhile, the national inflation rate has made for unfriendly headwinds for the incumbent president's party.

South Carolina's 1st Congressional District has been on a pendulum ride since 2018. Democrat Joe Cunningham, who is now running for governor, won the 1st District seat that year before losing to Mace in the following election.

Mace won a Republican primary earlier this year that had become a test of former President Donald Trump's influence after he had endorsed her primary opponent.

But Trump's influence held up in the GOP primary in the state's 7th Congressional District, where state GOP representative Russel Fry advanced to face Democratic challenger Daryl Scott in Tuesday's general election.

With Trump's backing, Fry ousted five-term Rep. Tom Rice in the June primary. Rice was the first of the 10 House Republicans to lose a reelection bid after he had voted to impeach Trump after the U.S. Capitol riots.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and the state's lone congressional Democrat, appears poised to win his sixteenth term. He is facing Republican attorney Duke Buckner in the 6th District.

In the 2nd District, Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson — who has held onto his seat since 2001 — is facing Democrat Judd Larkins.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan is running unopposed and set to win his seventh term serving the 3rd District.

In the 4th District, Republican U.S. Rep. William Tennis faces Independent write-in candidate Lee Turner after the Democratic nominee withdrew from the race.

In the 5th District, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman is up against Democrat Evangeline Hundley, a real estate agent.

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Follow AP's coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.