Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Tuesday seemed to leave open the door to remaining in public and political life after her fifth-place finish in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary.

"I will always be grateful for the people of South Carolina who trusted me, fought with me, and refused to look the other way. This isn't the end of the fight. It's just the end of this chapter," she said, without specifying future plans.

Mace earned 11.4% of the vote, failing to make the runoff. Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson finished in the top two slots and will advance to the next stage. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., placed third, while Rom Reddy placed fourth.

After the polls closed and results showed Mace poised to lose, she issued a statement on X, saying "[s]erving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life."

Mace appeared to blame her loss on her support for releasing the Epstein files.

"I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that.

As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up," she added. "I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund."

"And apparently, I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election.

I'm at peace with that," Mace went on. "Because when a candidate is OK with corruption and cover-ups - something is broken. That's not a political opinion. That's a moral emergency."

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.