Rep. Nancy Mace, who has at instances damaged along with her personal GOP leaders and infrequently courted controversy, launched a long-expected bid for governor of South Carolina on Monday, shaking up a crowded main race that already contains large names within the Palmetto State.
“I didn’t come to affix the membership. I got here to carry the road. They stated keep quiet; I spoke up. They stated sit down; I stood up. They stated play good; I fought again,” Mace will say in a speech in Charleston, the place she made historical past 26 years in the past as the primary girl to graduate from the Citadel army school. “South Carolina is bored with politicians who smile for the cameras, deceive your face, then vanish when it’s time to steer. I’m not considered one of them. …
“This isn’t about enjoying protection. It’s about occurring offense — for your loved ones, your freedom and your future,” she is going to say. “As a result of I wasn’t constructed to kiss the ring. I don’t reply to the institution. I don’t owe these within the again room a single factor. I reply to the folks — and the individuals are fed up.”
Donald Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate within the race, however her first marketing campaign video features a clip of the president saying: “Nancy Mace, she’s a fighter. I learn about that, she’s a fighter.” And her marketing campaign platform requires a “zero-tolerance strategy to crime,” chopping the state earnings tax to zero and stopping “the unconventional gender agenda” and “woke ideology” in South Carolina faculties.
The 2026 GOP main can be a household affair inside South Carolina’s tiny congressional delegation. The son of GOP Rep. Joe Wilson, state Legal professional Basic Alan Wilson, launched his marketing campaign in June, whereas Rep. Ralph Norman, one of many leaders of the far-right Freedom Caucus and a thorn in management’s aspect like Mace, jumped into the race simply final week.
Different Republican candidates embody Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell.
The sitting Republican governor, Henry McMaster, can not run for re-election on account of time period limits. Whoever wins the GOP main is predicted to succeed McMaster within the ruby-red state.
Mace, 47, a former state lawmaker who’s serving her third time period in Congress, can be probably the most well-known candidate nationally. She has repeatedly voted towards large spending payments and was considered one of eight Home Republicans who voted to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in the course of his time period in 2023 — a transfer that sparked backlash from institution Republicans.
In a constructing filled with consideration seekers, Mace has managed to seize headlines via a few of her sudden positions and actions. Regardless of declaring throughout her first marketing campaign she “strongly assist[s] LGBTQ rights and equality,” Mace has made being anti-transgender a giant a part of her political id extra lately.
Final yr, shortly earlier than Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware was set to develop into the primary out transgender member of Congress, Mace rolled out a measure to ban transgender girls from utilizing female-designated bogs within the U.S. Capitol. She later stated the invoice was “completely” aimed toward McBride, now a fellow congresswoman whom Mace has repeatedly misgendered.
In December, Mace accused a person of assault for “aggressively” shaking her hand on the U.S. Capitol, carrying a sling for days after the alleged incident. Federal prosecutors determined to not pursue an assault cost.
And in February, Mace gave an unprecedented 50-minute ground speech the place she accused 4 males — together with her ex-fiancé — of rape, intercourse trafficking and different intercourse crimes towards her and different feminine victims, which she known as “among the most heinous crimes towards girls possible.”
Throughout her speech, Mace additionally accused Alan Wilson, her future rival for governor, of failing to prosecute the lads after, in response to Mace, she offered his workplace with proof.
All 4 males whom Mace accused of intercourse crimes have vehemently denied the allegations in statements to NBC Information. In response to the February speech, Wilson’s workplace known as Mace’s accusations that it had did not act “categorically false,” including that the 2 politicians know one another nicely however that she had by no means mentioned the alleged crimes with Wilson or his workplace earlier than taking to the Home ground.
Mace has stood by her claims.
A spokesperson for the South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division, generally known as SLED, stated in a press release in February that it had opened an investigation into Mace’s allegations of assault, harassment and voyeurism in December 2023 after being contacted by U.S. Capitol Police.
Wilson’s workplace stated in February that it had not obtained any stories or requests for help from any regulation enforcement or prosecution businesses concerning these particular allegations.
Requested for an replace on Friday, Wilson spokesman Robert Kittle stated: “Our workplace has not obtained something pertaining to her case. If SLED does flip over the case, it could be despatched to the ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Workplace.”
Born at Fort Bragg, Mace hails from a army household. Her father, retired Brig. Gen. James Emory Mace, had served as commandant of cadets on the Citadel, the celebrated army school situated in Charleston.
In 1999, throughout his tenure there, Nancy Mace made historical past as the primary girl to graduate from the Citadel Corps of Cadets. She briefly served within the South Carolina statehouse earlier than defeating Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham within the 2020 race for the coastal 1st Congressional District.
Mace is internet hosting a sequence of city corridor occasions throughout the state in August, calling it the “Mom of ALL City Halls.” The primary can be in Myrtle Seaside on Wednesday.
