Rep. Nancy Mace, who has at times broken with her own GOP leaders and often courted controversy, launched a long-expected bid for governor of South Carolina on Monday, shaking up a crowded primary race that already includes big names in the Palmetto State.
“I didn’t come to join the club. They don’t want me, and I don’t want them," Mace said in a speech at the Citadel, the military college in Charleston, where she made history 26 years ago as the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets. "I came to hold the line. They said stay quiet; I spoke up. They said sit down; I stood up. They said play nice, and I fought back.”
“This isn’t about playing defense," Mace added. "This is about going on offense for you — for your family, for your freedom and for your future … I wasn’t built to kiss the ring. I just wear one. I don’t answer to the establishment. I don’t owe those in the back room a single thing. I answer to the people. And the people, let me tell you, are fed up."
Donald Trump hasn't endorsed a candidate in the race, but her first campaign video includes a clip of the president saying: "Nancy Mace, she’s a fighter. I know about that, she’s a fighter." And her campaign platform calls for a "zero-tolerance approach to crime," cutting the state income tax to zero and stopping "the radical gender agenda" and "woke ideology" in South Carolina schools.
"We're going to ban pronouns in the classroom," Mace said Monday morning as she ticked through her policy platform. "I don't want to see any glitter parties. I want kids coming home with A's and B's, not they and them. We're going to have tech free school zones."
"We will not fund any schools that allow biological men in women's bathrooms or locker rooms, that allow men to compete in women's sports, or schools that push gender ideology," she added.
The 2026 GOP primary will be a family affair within South Carolina’s tiny congressional delegation. The son of GOP Rep. Joe Wilson, state Attorney General Alan Wilson, launched his campaign in June, while Rep. Ralph Norman, one of the leaders of the far-right Freedom Caucus and a thorn in leadership’s side like Mace, jumped into the race just last week.
Other Republican candidates include Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster cannot run for re-election because of term limits. Whoever wins the GOP primary is expected to succeed McMaster in the ruby-red state.
Mace, 47, a former state lawmaker who is serving her third term in Congress, would be the most well-known candidate nationally. She has repeatedly voted against big spending bills and was one of eight House Republicans who voted to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in the middle of his term in 2023 — a move that sparked backlash from establishment Republicans.
In a building full of attention seekers, Mace has managed to grab headlines through some of her unexpected positions and actions. Despite declaring during her first campaign she “strongly support[s] LGBTQ rights and equality,” Mace has made being anti-transgender a big part of her political identity more recently.
Last year, shortly before Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware was set to become the first out transgender member of Congress, Mace rolled out a measure to ban transgender women from using female-designated bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol. She later said the bill was “absolutely” aimed at McBride, now a fellow congresswoman whom Mace has repeatedly misgendered.
In December, Mace accused a man of assault for “aggressively” shaking her hand at the U.S. Capitol, wearing a sling for days after the alleged incident. Federal prosecutors decided not to pursue an assault charge.
And in February, Mace gave an unprecedented 50-minute floor speech during which she accused four men — including her ex-fiancé — of rape, sex trafficking and other sex crimes against her and other female victims, which she called “some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable.”
During her speech, Mace also accused Alan Wilson, her future rival for governor, of failing to prosecute the men after, according to her, she presented his office with evidence.
All four men whom Mace accused of sex crimes have vehemently denied the allegations in statements to NBC News. In response to the February speech, Wilson’s office called Mace’s accusations that it had failed to act “categorically false,” adding that the two politicians know each other well but that she had never discussed the alleged crimes with Wilson or his office before taking to the House floor.
Mace has stood by her allegations.
A spokesperson for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, said in a statement 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 office said in February that it had not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these specific allegations.
Asked for an update Friday, Wilson spokesman Robert Kittle said: “Our office has not received anything pertaining to her case. If SLED does turn over the case, it would be sent to the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.”
Born at Fort Bragg, Mace hails from a military family. Her father, retired Brig. Gen. James Emory Mace, had served as commandant of cadets at the Citadel, the prestigious military college located in Charleston.
In 1999, during his tenure there, Nancy Mace made history as the first woman to graduate from the Citadel Corps of Cadets. But Monday, she recounted how her first job was working at a Waffle House after dropping out of high school.
"My parents didn't coddle me. They said it to me straight. They said, 'If you're going to stop going to school, you have to start going to work,'" Mace told supporters at her campaign event. "So I took a job at the fine dining establishment known as the Waffle House — my Waffle House, people. Denny's was a little too high-brow."
She briefly served in the South Carolina Statehouse before defeating Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in the 2020 race for the coastal 1st Congressional District.
Mace is hosting a series of town hall events across the state in August, calling it the “Mother of ALL Town Halls.” The first will be in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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