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.
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.
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- the votes that we needed to win this district.
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. You know, 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.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, 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 you know, 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.
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 American people don’t want us to get even. They want us to get things done because life is too expensive. So, what does accountability look like? Do you need investigations or do you need legislation?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: It probably depends, I think, on what specifically we’re talking about. We need to put some rules in place to make sure that our elected officials are not trading stocks. That is one area that we’ve seen, I think, extensive corruption there with insider information. But you know, we also need to overturn, end Citizens United and make sure that we are getting that dark money out of politics so representatives can answer to their constituents and not, you know, insider interests.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So when we look at your bio, you will be the highest-ranking female military officer ever to be elected to Congress. No female admiral or general has ever served before. You were chief of the Navy Reserve until you were relieved from your position by Secretary Hegseth in August of 2025. He has said he’s cutting the number of high-ranking officers by 20 percent, but he’s also said he’s ending diversity initiatives, or DEI. Do you have any idea why he targeted you?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: I don’t. You know, I was never given a reason when I was removed from my position in August 2025. I don’t think any of the other generals and admirals were ever given reasons either. And frankly, at this point, it doesn’t really matter. You know, it opened a door for me to do what I’m doing now and continuing my service in Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Secretary Hegseth released a video Thursday arguing that attempts to oust him from office are about his rebuilding of the force. Here’s a clip.
[START SOUND ON TAPE]
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Diversity is not our strength; our unity is. Men and women, they’re not the same thing, but in the military, they must be held to the same standard. Strong young men who believe in something greater than themselves are admirable.
[END SOUND ON TAPE]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Went on to call being transgender a mental illness. He dismissed a reference to “white rage.” He said- that seemed to be maybe about renaming military bases and taking Confederate general names off of them. Of all of these initiatives, what do you think the impact has been on the U.S. military?
REP.-ELECT LACORE: You know, I’ve said since I launched this campaign, Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified secretary that this nation has seen. He has caused significant damage to us as a country and put us at risk, and really damaged the readiness of our entire military force. He is focused on the wrong things. He should be focused on strategy and readiness instead of these things that are down in the trenches.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, what do you think would be an impeachable offense? Because I know there is an effort underway in this Congress to do so. You’ve said you hope that gets taken care of before you come to Washington.
REP.-ELECT LACORE: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s probably plenty, and I do believe that this will be handled before I get there. You know, we can talk- we can tie this war as- as one thing that is extremely damaging to our country. Some of the things that we saw going on down off Venezuela as well. But really it comes back to, you know, it’s all part of the- the problem with the corruption and the lack of strategy, which is doing nothing but really driving up costs for people, and that’s what people really care about. And so that’s what I want to focus on when I get to Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congresswoman-elect, your bio- you are historic. You’re also a mother of six, which was very impressive to me as well. We thank you for your time today.
REP.-ELECT LACORE: Thank you so much.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.
