The Unraveling of Nancy Mace: The tumultuous inside story of the thirstiest member of Congress

Last October, when Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker of the house, one Republican of the eight who voted against him stood out as the odd bedfellow of the group: a junior representative from South Carolina named Nancy Mace.

The seven other Republicans, all men, were far-right rabble-rousers, loudmouths for whom grousing about the “establishment” rather than working with it was always the right political move. They were used to attracting and capitalizing on press attention. Yet in the days that followed McCarthy’s ouster, Mace outshone them all, showing up for work in a shirt with a red A on the front, a nod to the titular symbol in The Scarlet Letter.

Her staff, still picking up the pieces from Mace’s bombshell vote against McCarthy the previous week, was completely baffled.

“I thought it was just some fashion statement,” one staffer recalled. “I was like, OK, well, maybe this is an Abercrombie shirt or something.” Only after seeing Mace on camera at a meeting of House Republicans—swarmed by reporters—did the staffer put it together: The scarlet-letter outfit “was another attempt by her to be a part of the story.”

Or, as a second staffer remembered, it was an attempt to become the star of the story: “She wanted every single person to think—when they thought of the McCarthy ouster vote, not to think of the eight, but to think of Nancy Mace,” the staffer said.

In her own explanation for the scarlet letter that day, Mace lamented that she had been “demonized for my vote and for my voice” and would “do the right thing every single time, no matter the consequences.”

There are plenty of links to sourced stories. And many where MACE herself is the named source.

Here’s Mace talking to CNN:

You can’t — you can’t explain what happened yesterday. It was a sad day for our nation. I was shocked. I was heartbroken. And I was pissed off and angry by seeing this violent mob. This wasn’t protests, this was anarchy last night.

And this weekend — I got sworn in on Sunday. I swore an oath to the Constitution. I brought my two children, I’m a single mom, I’m the first Republican woman elected to Congress from South Carolina.

But the rhetoric that I was seeing online, on social media, I was worried about the outcome of the rally on Wednesday. I sent my children home on the first flight Monday morning because I was so concerned about it.

This is un-American and it’s wrong. And I woke up this morning being criticized for voting to certify a legally certified election, in all 50 states, for certifying the Electoral College. This needs to stop. Enough is enough.

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Here’s Mace talking at the Washington Press Club’s annual dinner, reported in the New York Times:

In a jab at Mr. McCarthy, she said: “I haven’t seen someone assume that many positions to appease the crazy Republicans since Stormy Daniels,” referring to the pornographic film actress who said Mr. Trump had paid her $130,000 not to talk publicly about an affair she said they had.

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Again on CNN, Sept. 30, 2023:

“I think they’re walking the plank,” the South Carolina Republican told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview that aired Sunday, when asked if members in moderate districts like hers are doomed.

“I’m pro-life. I have a fantastic pro-life voting record, but I also understand that we cannot be a**holes to women,” said Mace, who has been vocal about including exceptions for rape in measures to restrict the procedure.

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On ABC, April 23, 2023

South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace on Sunday warned her conservative colleagues that they would “lose huge” with voters if they continue pursuing strict abortion bans at the state level rather than finding what she called a “middle ground” on the issue.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” two days after the Supreme Court paused a federal judge’s ruling to restrict access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone, Mace told co-anchor Martha Raddatz she agreed with that move and urged others in the GOP to avoid extremes.

Mace referenced a bill signed into law in Florida earlier this month banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and another bill introduced in her home state that could impose the death penalty on women who have abortions.

Mace, a “constitutional conservative who’s pro-life,” called those efforts “the wrong message heading into ‘24.”

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