Nancy Mace isn’t hiding what kind of campaign she plans to run.
On Monday morning, the Republican South Carolina congresswoman stood on the parade ground of The Citadel, where she became the first woman to graduate from the military college’s Corps of Cadets in 1999, and launched a gubernatorial bid steeped in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, white nationalist dog whistles, and a relentless fixation on imagined threats to “women and children.”
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Her announcement marked a sharp, if predictable, escalation of the culture-war persona she’s cultivated since President Donald Trump’s return to political dominance.
“I will hold the line,” Mace said repeatedly, casting herself as a warrior against what she called “the gender cult,” undocumented immigrants, and public colleges that acknowledge the existence of more than two genders. “We’re going to ban pronouns in the classroom,” she added. “I want kids coming home with A’s and B’s, not they/them.”
Mace’s official entrance into the 2026 governor’s race comes just days after she posted on social media, “FALSE: I am not quitting Congress. TRUE: Proud transphobe,” in response to a headline from The Advocate that called attention to her statewide ambitions.
That remark drew condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates and lawmakers. Rep. Mark Pocan, a gay Democrat from Wisconsin, called her “batshit crazy.” The Human Rights Campaign’s Laurel Powell described Mace’s behavior as “a national embarrassment” and “a calculated ploy for attention.”
Once a self-described LGBTQ+ ally who warned Republicans were alienating suburban voters, Mace has spent the last year rebranding herself as the GOP’s most outspoken transphobe, a shift she has aggressively flaunted.
During a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, she falsely claimed the National Institutes of Health spent $26 million to create “transgender mice,” questioned whether she was allowed to say the anti-trans slur “tr***y” at a live event, and praised YouTube videos showing ICE agents dragging undocumented immigrants out of courtrooms.
At Monday’s campaign kickoff, she leaned into similar themes, promising to cut all state funding from colleges that “can’t define what a woman is,” to eliminate state income tax within five years, and to defund sheriffs and prosecutors she deems too lenient. Without offering evidence, she accused law enforcement officials of releasing undocumented “rapists, murderers, and pedophiles” into South Carolina communities.
Standing before a small crowd of supporters, Mace cast herself as an outsider unafraid of confrontation, declaring, “I wasn’t built to kiss the ring. I just wear one.” Her campaign video included a clip of Trump calling her “a fighter,” while her speech echoed his signature blend of grievance and bravado. “If you cheat the system, you’re going to pay the price,” she said, vowing to punish businesses that hire undocumented labor and defund schools that “push gender ideology.”
South Carolina already enforces one of the harshest anti-trans laws in the country, banning gender-affirming care not only for minors but for adults whose care is funded by Medicaid or state employee insurance. A federal lawsuit brought by three trans South Carolinians is pending. Mace made clear she intends to go even further, warning that any school, K–12 or college, that “allows biological men in women’s bathrooms or locker rooms” would be cut off from all public funding.
South Carolina currently ranks 40th in public education, according to U.S. News & World Report, and 37th in overall health system performance, per The Commonwealth Fund.
It was a campaign launch defined not by policy, but by persecution. Mace, once a rising moderate voice in her party, has now embraced the far-right’s most dangerous delusions, proudly recasting herself as what The New Republic recently called “the most prominent transphobe in American politics.” She reposted that quote last week with her caption: “We approve of this message. Your mental illness is not our reality.”
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Nancy Mace announces run for South Carolina governor with anti-LGBTQ+ remarks
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