10 Republicans, 4 Democrats vying for the Lowcountry’s 1st district seat
By Adrian Ashford
SCDailyGazette.com
As U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace runs for governor, a whopping 14 candidates have announced bids to replace her in Congress, making the race for the coastal 1st District by far the most crowded among South Carolina’s 2026 elections for state or federal offices.
The field breaks down to 10 Republicans and four Democrats. Five are military veterans. Many are first-time candidates: They include a mechanic, a waiter, and a Marine pardoned for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
State Rep. Mark Smith of Daniel Island is the only legislator. Three other Republicans — Logan Cunningham, Jay Byars, and Jenny Costa Honeycutt — have elected experience as county council members. One Democrat has political experience as a former county chair. Another Democrat ran for the seat unsuccessfully two years ago.
On their websites and in conversations with the S.C. Daily Gazette, most Republican candidates put a heavy emphasis on border security and reducing the national debt. Some called for hardline policies to curtail immigration.
Alex Pelbath, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force who lives in Mount Pleasant, supports President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship. Tyler Dykes of Bluffton, a Marine Corps veteran, told the S.C. Daily Gazette he’d like to ban or halt most immigration of any kind.
Byars and Cunningham highlight their desire to preserve the Lowcountry’s natural resources.
Cunningham, who sits on Beaufort County Council, says on his campaign website that his top local priority is protecting the Lowcountry’s waterways and coastline.
Byars, on Dorchester County Council, calls himself a “conservative conservationist.” He told the Gazette he wants to emulate Teddy Roosevelt, his favorite president, by protecting public land and national parks.
Many candidates are pitching voters on their non-polarizing style.
“When the conversation becomes more about focusing on clickbait that’s going to generate some cheap donor ads, that’s where things really start going off the rails,” said Byars. “I tell people all the time: some of my best friends are left-leaning, left-thinking Democratic folks,” he said. “We can have a conversation, we can debate seriously, and then we can go grab a pizza and a beer afterwards.”
“Too many politicians chase headlines instead of fixing real problems, and that’s not who I am,” Honeycutt, a lawyer on Charleston County Council, began her statement to the Gazette.
Republican Justin Myers, a Navy veteran who lives in Charleston and owns a moving business, has repeatedly called for unity across parties on his campaign Facebook account. Last month, he applauded California Gov. Gavin Newsom for praising Turning Points co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was killed last September while debating college students in Utah.
The four Democrats include Mac Deford, a Coast Guard veteran and Charleston-area attorney who ran for the same seat in 2024 and lost his party’s primary by 3 percentage points. Mayra Rivera-Vázquez is a retired paralegal and former chair of the Beaufort County Democratic Party. On her website, she describes herself as the proud daughter of Puerto Rican parents and wife of an Army veteran.
The other two Democrats are political newcomers. Their platforms include creating a single, government-provided health insurance system funded by taxpayers that covers all residents nationwide.
The 1st District had a Democratic congressman in not-too-distant memory: Joe Cunningham flipped the seat for a single term before Mace ousted him in 2020.
After the 2020 census, the district was redrawn to favor Republicans. Mace won re-election in 2024 with over 58% of the vote against a Democratic challenger she barely acknowledged.
The S.C. Daily Gazette called each candidate that has filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and reached 11 of the 14 candidates who publicly announced their bids.
Immigration
Many Republicans cited mass immigration as one of the top issues they want to address in Congress.
In a statement to the Gazette, Pelbath said families were being “crushed” by both higher prices and open borders. His campaign website says he wants to solve those problems by deporting every immigrant not legally in the United States and bringing jobs home.
Pelbath piloted the last American plane out of Kabul when American troops withdrew from Afghanistan, The Post and Courier reported.
Dykes, a 27-year-old salesman, said in an interview that the rising cost of living and mass immigration were the “two biggest issues” impacting people in the Lowcountry area. He said he supports solving both problems through mass deportations and ending all work visas for noncitizens.
Dykes pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the U.S. Capitol riot that followed the “Stop the Steal” rally five years ago.
The FBI arrested him in July 2023. He was sentenced a year later to 57 months in federal prison but was released after Trump pardoned him among more than 1,500 others convicted for their roles. He told the S.C. Daily Gazette he pleaded guilty just to get a deal but “never touched” an officer.
Deford, a Democrat, said he believed border security and immigration were among the top issues in the 1st district. He said he intercepted drug shipments and defended U.S. borders when he worked for the Coast Guard. Unlike most Republicans in the race, he criticized Trump’s immigration crackdown and the administration’s recent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“These things can all be true: Maduro is a thug. America must lead. And we cannot lead the free world by breaking our own laws and bypassing Congress,” Deford wrote on X.
Six of the Republican candidates have publicly praised or supported Trump’s capture of Maduro on social media.
Dykes appeared to take a different approach: He recently retweeted a 2019 post from Trump that reads “The Endless Wars Must End!”
Republican Jack Ellison of Charleston wrote on social media that Trump should have gotten congressional approval.
“Maduro is a criminal — the head of a corrupt regime that has trampled democracy, destroyed its economy, and driven millions to flee. That needs to be stated plainly,” wrote the Army veteran. “But how the United States responds matters. Any serious action — military, economic, or diplomatic — must have the support of Congress and the American people. Acting without that legitimacy weakens our position and our credibility abroad.”
Smith, who replaced Mace in the state House, officially launched his bid last August to replace her in the U.S. House.
His campaign launch video prominently featured Trump. In his video, Smith touted his support in the Legislature for state income tax cuts and a special immigration enforcement unit at the State Law Enforcement Division. The unit existed prior to his 2020 election to the House. In 2024, Smith voted for a law that moved it from the state Department of Public Safety to SLED.
“Mark Smith will join President Trump to bring us into a golden age,” Smith, the CEO of McAlister-Smith Funeral Homes, said in the video.
Cost of living
Almost all candidates emphasized the rising cost of living as a problem they want to help solve.
Dan Brown, a Bluffton Republican who works at a Land Rover dealership, said he decided to run when he first saw his baby son’s ultrasound.
“I just want him and everyone of his generation and the generations after that to grow up and live in an America that gives all the opportunities that I and my generation have had,” Brown said in an interview.
He, Smith, and Honeycutt call for reducing the national debt and cutting government spending as a way to make life more affordable in the Lowcountry.
Charleston physician and businessman Dr. Sam McCown said in an interview that America was facing an “affordability crisis,” as he criticized the cost of health insurance. McCown encouraged the use of Health Savings Accounts, as a U.S. Senate GOP plan seeks to do, saying that will give consumers more choice.
He also said the health care industry is over-regulated and called for policies that would limit lawsuits and potential payouts. Doctors often order exams patients don’t need just to protect themselves from a potential lawsuit, he said, and that drives up cost.
Democrat Matt Fulmer, a Hilton Head waiter, advocated for getting rid of private insurance and transitioning to a system where everyone gets health insurance from the government. He told the Gazette he’s not dissuaded by advice that Democrat candidates in Republican-leaning districts should “not rock the boat” with their policy ideas.
“I think that strategy is a lot more appealing when people are doing well,” Fulmer said. “When people are experiencing this level of economic pain, they are looking for big solutions.”
Democrat Max Diaz, a 25-year-old Hanahan mechanic, told the Gazette he also wants a single, government-provided health insurance program.
One issue has bipartisan appeal in the field: stopping large investment firms from buying up single-family homes.
Last Wednesday, Trump announced he wants to ban the practice.
Democrats Diaz and Fulmer, as well as Dykes, the pardoned Republican, like that idea. They advocate for proposals that would tax or stop investment companies from buying single-family homes or apartment complexes.
McCown, Smith, Pelbath, Deford, Byars, Rivera-Vazquez, and Diaz have reported campaign donations through September. McCown had the most cash on hand — over $1 million — after putting in $865,100 of his own money.
Adrian Ashford covers campaigns and elections for the SC Daily Gazette. Before moving to South Carolina, he covered faith and religion for The Dallas Morning News. He studied religion and politics at Harvard and wrote a thesis about evolving interpretations of the First Amendment. He S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
