Transcript: Rep.-elect Nancy Lacore on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Nov. 8, 2026
The following is the full transcript of the interview with Rep.-elect Nancy Lacore, a portion of which aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Nov. 8, 2026.
Introduction
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Retired Vice Admiral and Congresswoman-Elect Nancy Lacore, a Democrat in South Carolina. Good morning to you.
REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT NANCY LACORE (SC-01): Good morning.
Winning the Election and Building a Coalition
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you flipped a seat that Republicans have held for 43 of the last 45 years, and you won by just about 3,000 votes. What is the message that you are taking to Washington from your voters?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: Well, we knew this was going to be a hard race to win, and we knew it was going to take really reaching past the Democratic Party into the Independents and moderate Republicans. And that was our focus early on. It started with getting an endorsement from a Republican mayor here in Mount Pleasant, which is the largest municipality in the district. And that sort of set us on that path to start building that very broad coalition that we knew would win. And I really think my background of 35 years nonpartisan military leadership is one that really helped bring voters over from those other parties and make sure that we had the votes that we needed to win this district.
Working with President Trump
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I understand you were a registered Republican until 2016, and you said that you had left the party because of Donald Trump. He's the president you will have to work with to get things done in the next two years. What opportunities do you see?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: I see a lot of opportunities because of what the new Congress is going to look like. There's a significant majority this time. There are a lot of veterans who are now, you know, elected, you know, soon to be official congressmen and women. And as veterans, we don't really care what your political affiliation is. We just focus on achieving the mission. And I think that's what you're going to see out of this new Congress.
Priorities in Congress
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said on the campaign trail that your mission would be bringing down the cost of housing, medical care, healthcare, getting rid of tax breaks for data centers. That's a long to-do list. Do you have a sense from Democratic leaders what the first initiative will be in the new Congress?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: My guess, and if I get my way up there, the things that I'm going to focus on on day one, first of all, will be to end this war, because that has driven up costs extraordinarily high across the district and the country. We also need to look at repealing some of these tariffs that have driven up a variety of other costs, including those of building new homes. And One Big Beautiful Bill. There's some great pieces to the One Big Beautiful Bill, but there's some very pieces that have done a lot of damage and made things a lot more unaffordable. I love to talk about the fact that we're not paying taxes on tips or Social Security, and I think that's great. But we need to make that permanent because right now those are going to expire with the end of this administration.
Addressing Tariffs and Corruption
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you want to extend those tax breaks. When you say repeal the tariffs, Congress didn't authorize the tariffs the president has put in through executive order. So how are you going to persuade him?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: I think everybody is going to be weighing in on this. We have to unite around the issues that all Americans are facing right now, regardless of what our party is. When we go to Congress and make sure that we can deliver on bringing the cost of living down, because that is affecting every American.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nine out of ten voters said government corruption was a crucial or major factor in their vote, they put it right up there with the cost of living. Leader Jeffries, likely to be Speaker Jeffries, has said there should be accountability, but the A