South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace won a competitive Republican primary Tuesday, fending off a challenger who was backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

Mace defeated attorney Catherine Templeton in the Charleston-based 1st District, The Associated Press projected, hitting the majority threshold needed to avoid a runoff. With 28% of the vote in, Mace led Templeton 58% to 29%.

Mace’s role as one of the eight House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy from as House speaker in October loomed large over the race. She faced millions of dollars in ad spending from outside groups aligned with the former California congressman and Templeton, who received financial support from McCarthy’s leadership PAC, said Mace’s vote is what pushed her to enter the race. 

But an endorsement from Donald Trump provided Mace with a boost, despite her mixed history with the presumptive Republican nominee.  Mace ardently supported Trump in the 2024 presidential primary after she had called for the GOP to move on from him after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Captiol and after defeating a primary challenger backed by the former president in 2022. 

Mace had also outraised Templeton and received support on the airwaves from the conservative Club for Growth Action.

Mace was looking for a decisive win, telling NBC News over the weekend, “I want to win bigger than ever before Tuesday night because I want to send a message to Washington that voters don’t care about D.C.” Her campaign office was adorned with “60-40” signs, signaling her desire for a big margin that avoided a runoff. 

Templeton, who previously served as then-Gov. Nikki Haley’s labor secretary, had dismissed McCarthy’s influence in the race.

“Nobody’s paying attention to Kevin McCarthy in the Low Country of South Carolina,” Templeton recently told NBC News. 

McCarthy’s revenge tour against the Republicans who voted to remove him as speaker will continue this summer, though. His affiliated groups have also spent money against GOP Reps. Bob Good of Virginia and Eli Crane of Arizona ahead of their primaries in the coming weeks. And McCarthy’s chief agitator, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, is also facing a primary challenger. 

In South Carolina’s 4th District, GOP Rep. William Timmons is also facing a hotly contested primary against state Rep. Adam Morgan, who chairs the Freedom Caucus in the Legislature. Morgan has support from some of Timmons’ hard-line House colleagues, turning the race into a proxy fight over internal divisions in the Republican conference. Trump endorsed Timmons in the primary.

In South Carolina’s open 3rd District, Trump has backed pastor Mark Burns in the GOP primary, which is expected to head to a runoff with multiple candidates on the ballot. 

Outside of South Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota and Maine are also holding primary elections on Tuesday. And Trump has intervened in many of the key races.

Trump made a last-minute endorsement in Nevada’s GOP Senate primary, backing Army veteran Sam Brown over his former ambassador to Iceland, Jeff Gunter. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in the fall in what will be a critical race in the fight for Senate control.

Trump also put his thumb on the scale in Nevada’s 4th District, backing former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee in the race to take on Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford. 

In North Dakota, Trump has endorsed GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong for governor. That put the former president on the opposite side of one of his potential running mates, retiring Gov. Doug Burgum, who backed Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller.

Trump also supported Public Service Commissioner over former state Rep. Rick Becker in the primary to replace Armstrong in North Dakota’s at-large district. 

In Maine, the former president backed state Rep. Austin Theriault in the GOP primary in the 2nd District, where Rep. Jared Golden is one of five Democrats running for re-election in a district Trump carried in 2020. 

Aside from Tuesday’s primary contests, voters in Ohio’s 6th District will pick a new member of Congress to replace former GOP Rep. Bill Johnson, who resigned in January. Republican state Sen. Michael Rulli is expected to win the deep-red seat, which would boost Republicans’ slim House majority.

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET in South Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ET in Ohio, 8 p.m. ET in Maine, 9 p.m. ET in North Dakota and 10 p.m. ET in Nevada.