Karen Pence stumps for GOP SC congressional candidate

Second lady Karen Pence stumped for South Carolina congressional candidate Nancy Mace on Wednesday, warning the race between Mace and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D) was likely to be close.

“To keep moving forward, we need to send Nancy Mace to Congress,” Pence said at a Wednesday campaign event in Charleston, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. “Now is not the time to give up. This is going to be a close race. It’s going to come down to the wire.”

“This is a fight for the future of our country,” Mace added. “This race is one of the top races in the country, one of the hottest races in America right now that the Republicans are trying to win back, which is why we’re seeing so much support from the White House.”

Cunningham won the 2018 election in the Palmetto State’s 1st Congressional District by just more than a point, the first time in nearly four decades a Democrat had won the seat. It also marked the first time since 1986 a Democrat flipped a GOP-held South Carolina House seat. Pence’s presence in the district indicates the seat is a major target for Republicans as they seek to reclaim the House majority in 2020.

Quarterly fundraising reports indicate Cunningham has raised nearly quadruple what Mace has, with more than $3 million, according to the newspaper.

Cunningham is also one of a handful of moderate and centrist Democrats the traditionally Republican-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed this week. Mace acknowledged the endorsement at the Wednesday event.

“I know that the U.S. Chamber is trying to diversify the kind of candidates that they back, but I’ll put my record up any day against Congressman Cunningham as being more pro-business and being more fiscally conservative,” she said, according to the newspaper.

Cunningham, meanwhile, was set to host a virtual campaign event with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) later in the evening.