Nancy Mace facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nancy Mace
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2021
Preceded by	Joe Cunningham
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 99th district
In office January 23, 2018 – November 8, 2020
Preceded by	James Merrill
Succeeded by	Mark Smith
Personal details
Born	Nancy Ruth Mace (1977-12-04) December 4, 1977 (age 47) Fort Bragg, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Chris Niemiec ​ ​ (m. 1999; div. 2002)​ Curtis Jackson ​ ​ (m. 2004; div. 2019)​
Children	2
Education	The Citadel (BS) University of Georgia (MS)

Nancy Ruth Mace (born December 4, 1977) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district since 2021. She is a member of the Republican Party.

In 1999, she became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program at The Citadel military college in South Carolina. From 2018 to 2020, she represented the 99th district in the South Carolina House of Representatives, covering Hanahan, northeast Mount Pleasant, and Daniel Island. In 2020, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first Republican woman elected to Congress from South Carolina.

Mace worked for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but strongly condemned his actions surrounding the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack. She asserted that Trump's legacy had been "wiped out" and that he should be held "accountable" for his actions. However, she ultimately voted against impeaching him, and, in 2024, endorsed him in the Republican presidential primary.

Early life, education, and career

Mace was born at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to United States Army officer James Emory Mace and schoolteacher Anne Mace. In 1999 she became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel's Corps of Cadets program, receiving a degree in business administration. Mace wrote In the Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel (Simon & Schuster, 2001) about that experience.

Mace went on to earn a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

In 2008, Mace started a consulting business called The Mace Group.

Early political career

Mace campaigned for the Republican Party nomination for the United States Senate in South Carolina in the 2014 election. During the campaign, she opposed the Affordable Care Act, saying, "We must use any means possible to repeal, defund and ultimately stop Obamacare." Mace received 19,560 votes, or 6.2% of the total votes cast, in the Republican primary as incumbent Lindsey Graham re-won nomination.

Mace worked for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign in South Carolina.

South Carolina House of Representatives

Elections

2017 special

On September 18, 2017, Mace filed as a Republican to run in a special election for the South Carolina State House District 99 seat being vacated by Jimmy Merrill, who resigned earlier that month after an indictment and plea deal for several ethics violations. She received 49.5% of the vote in the November 14 Republican primary, 13 votes short of winning the nomination outright. She defeated the second-place finisher, Mount Pleasant town councilman Mark Smith, in the November 28 runoff, 63–37%.

Mace defeated Democrat Cindy Boatwright in the January 16, 2018, general election, 2,066 votes to 1,587 (57–43%). She took office on January 23, 2018.

2018

Mace defeated the Democratic nominee, Mount Pleasant resident Jen Gibson, in the November 6, 2018 general election.

Tenure

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Mace co-sponsored a bill to oppose offshore drilling off South Carolina's coast. She opposed President Donald Trump's plan to offer oil drilling leases off South Carolina beaches.

The Conservation Voters of South Carolina gave Mace a 100% Lifetime rating for her voting record against offshore drilling and seismic testing. The South Carolina Club for Growth gave Mace its 2019 Tax Payer Hero Award.

In May 2020, Governor Henry McMaster signed Mace's prison reform bill, which ends the shackling of pregnant women in prison, into law.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2020

In June 2019, Mace announced that she would seek the Republican nomination for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, centered in Charleston, and at the time represented by Democrat Joe Cunningham. Cunningham had won the seat in 2018 in a surprise victory, winning a district Trump had carried by 13 percentage points two years earlier. Mace faced Mount Pleasant City Councilwoman Kathy Landing and Bikers for Trump founder Chris Cox in the June 9 Republican primary. During her primary campaign, she ran an advertisement stating she would "help President Trump take care of our veterans", and in which Vice President Mike Pence called her "an extraordinary American with an extraordinary lifetime of accomplishments—past, present and future." She won the primary with 57.5% of the vote.

Mace focused her campaign on banning offshore drilling off South Carolina's coast and restoring South Carolina's low country's economy.

In the November general election, Mace defeated Cunningham. She assumed office on January 3, 2021.

2022

Mace did not vote to impeach President Trump, but she criticized him for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. As a consequence, Trump endorsed former South Carolina representative Katie Arrington in the 2022 Republican primary for Mace's congressional seat. Mace defeated Arrington.

In the November general election, Mace defeated her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, by 14 percentage points.

Tenure

Relationship to Donald Trump

Mace was one of seven Republicans who publicly refused to support their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. These seven signed a letter that, while giving credence to Trump's allegations of electoral fraud, said Congress did not have the authority to influence the election's outcome. Mace was so concerned by the hostile atmosphere Trump was generating in the District of Columbia that she sent her children home to South Carolina before the congressional vote to accept the Electoral College votes.

After the 2021 United States Capitol attack, Mace pleaded with Trump to condemn it. While locked down in her Capitol office she told CBS News' Red & Blue host Elaine Quijano, "I'm begging the president to get off Twitter." Ultimately Mace voted against impeaching Trump, however, stating that due process had not been properly followed. She would later come to Trump's defense after he was indicted for mishandling classified documents.

In 2024, Mace endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries over Nikki Haley, who supported Mace in the 2022 primary.

Relationship to other lawmakers

In November 2021, Mace criticized fellow Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert for her anti-Muslim comments about Democrat Ilhan Omar.

On October 3, 2023, Mace voted in favor of removing McCarthy, a fellow Republican, from his position as speaker of the House. ..... McCarthy, who had been a strong ally of Mace's, denied her claims. Following his ouster, Mace took to media, describing him as "a loser" who was "bored and doesn’t know what to do with himself." Mace stated that she had never liked McCarthy since she joined Congress, baffling district Republicans who questioned why she had turned on her ally. Berkeley County Republican Party Chair Victoria Cowart said "one of the sentiments I get the most is that she's talking out of both sides of her mouth."

During a January 2024 hearing, Mace called Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, "the epitome of White privilege."

Legislation

Mace, along with all other Senate and House Republicans, voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

On May 18, 2021, Mace joined 61 other House Republicans to vote against the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which condemned acts of hate against Asian-Americans and streamlined data collection and reporting about such occurrences. The bill previously passed the U.S. Senate on a 94–1 vote. Mace said she opposed the bill because it did not address discrimination against Asian-Americans in higher education.

In February 2023, Mace, along with representatives Randy Weber (R‑TX 14th), Lizzie Fletcher (D‑TX 07th), Abigail Spanberger (D‑VA 07th), Don Davis (D‑NC 01st), and Anna Eshoo (D‑CA 16th), introduced the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, which aims to share federal offshore wind power revenue with states for coastal protection and restoration work. The bill was also introduced in the Senate.

On October 2, 2023, the House of Representatives passed a cybersecurity bill titled the MACE Act, intended to modernize federal cybersecurity job requirements. The bill was introduced by Mace and would be the last bill passed under Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Mace's legislative staff named the bill after her as a joke about Mace's ego.

In April 2024, Mace introduced the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act (i.e. the PAAW Act). The bill "prevents the National Institute of Health (NIH) from conducting or supporting any research that causes significant pain and distress to dogs and cats." It also "requires reports to Congress by the NIH and Government Accountability Office detailing NIH-funded dog and cat experiments, their cost and assessments of NIH efforts to phase them out."

Former staff and focus on media attention

Many former congressional staffers for Mace have described her approach to her office as focused on gaining media attention. Her staffers have attributed many of her political actions, such as her vote against McCarthy, to a desire to make headlines and appear on TV programs. Staffers recalled her attempting to attract attention to herself during the January 6 Capitol attack by risking her own safety and seeking to be assaulted by rioters. Mace's former communications director described a resolution introduced by Mace to limit usage of House of Representatives bathrooms to those designated for one's biological sex, in response to the election of a transgender member, as a ploy for media attention. Legislative staffers for Mace described her efforts to attract media attention as hampering her legislative agenda and working relationships with other members of Congress.

An internal staff handbook written by Mace showcased an unusual focus on public image and media attention, with strenuous expectations for communications staff. Mace's handbook required communications staffers to book her on national TV outlets at least 1-3 times a day, and on local TV channels at least 6 times per week. The handbook was conspicuously more detailed in its descriptions of communications staff compared to legislative and constituent-focused staff positions. Mace's office experienced high levels of turnover, including a complete turnover of all staff between November 2023 and February 2024.

Arrest of James McIntyre

In December 2024, Mace said that foster youth activist and children's advocate James McIntyre threatened and physically assaulted her during a handshake at a foster care youth advocacy event. McIntyre was subsequently arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on charges of assaulting a government official and was jailed overnight. In court documents, Mace stated that McIntyre "began to aggressively and in an exaggerated manner shake her arm up and down in a hand shaking motion," with "her arm flailing for about 3-5 seconds." According to Mace, McIntyre had said, "Trans youth deserve advocacy," and Mace described herself as being "in shock" and "intimidated". At least three witnesses disputed Mace's description of the handshake, saying they saw nothing but a "routine handshake". Another witness stated that McIntyre "took her hand with both of his hands and shook her arm up and down in an exaggerated, aggressive handshaking motion". Mace refused paramedics' assistance, but stated in court documents that she felt "pain in her wrists, arm and armpit/shoulder due to the incident".

Redistricting

South Carolina redrew its congressional map after the 2020 census showed significant population changes between districts. A three-judge federal panel ruled in 2023 that Mace's congressional District 1 was redrawn in a "stark racial gerrymander" intended to suppress the power of Black voters. The redistricting moved 62% of Black Charleston County voters (a total of 30,000) from Mace's District 1 to District 6, represented by Jim Clyburn, a Black Democrat who has held the seat for 30 years, and moved inland white voters into Mace's District 1.

The NAACP challenged the map, but after hearing oral arguments in October 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling in a 6–3 decision in May 2024, finding that the legislature's redistricting decisions were driven by partisan goals, specifically to increase District 1's Republican vote share, rather than by race. The Court emphasized that while race and partisan preference are highly correlated in South Carolina, the use of political data for partisan aims is not constitutionally prohibited even if it results in racial disparities. The Court also noted that the plaintiff's decision not to provide an alternative map was an "implicit concession" that it could not draw one that would prove racial discrimination while achieving the same partisan outcome. The dissenting justices argued that the majority's approach would make it significantly harder to challenge racial gerrymandering in the future. In response to the ruling, Mace stated, "It reaffirms everything everyone in South Carolina already knows, which is that the line wasn't based on race."

Congressional oversight

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)

As Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Mace has led congressional hearings on UAPs (also known as UFOs) and government transparency. In a July 2023 hearing, Mace questioned David Grusch, a former senior intelligence official and lead UAP analyst for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, about recovered nonhuman craft and biological remains.

In a November 2024 hearing, Mace criticized the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) for being "unable, or perhaps unwilling, to bring forward the truth about the government's activities concerning UAPs" and questioned why the government maintains such secrecy if there is "no big deal and there's nothing there."

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
• Committee on Oversight and Accountability
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Blockchain Caucus
• Climate Solutions Caucus
• Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans
• Rare Disease Caucus

Political positions

An October 2021 profile in Politico magazine noted that Mace had worked on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign before disavowing him in the wake of the 2021 United States Capitol attack. She then softened her criticism of Trump before "slowly arcing her political trajectory back toward her post-Jan. 6 image as one of the few House Republicans skeptical of a Donald Trump-ruled GOP."

D.C. statehood

In April 2021, Mace voiced her opposition to a Democratic proposal to grant the District of Columbia statehood. She argued that D.C. was too small to qualify as a state, saying, "D.C. wouldn't even qualify as a singular congressional district."

LGBT rights

In 2021, The Washington Examiner wrote that Mace "is a supporter of both religious liberty and gay marriage." Later that year, she told The Washington Examiner, "I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality. No one should be discriminated against." She opposed the Equality Act, instead co-sponsoring a Republican alternative called the Fairness for All Act.

Mace was one of 31 Republicans to vote for the LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement and Investment Act. Mace was the lone Republican to sponsor H.R.5776 - Serving Our LGBTQ Veterans Act, legislation establishing a Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Veterans within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Among other functions, the center must serve as the department's principal adviser on adoption and implementation of policies and programs affecting veterans who are LGBTQ.

In July 2022, Mace was among 47 Republican Representatives who voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law. Mace later stated, “If gay couples want to be as happily or miserably married as straight couples, more power to them. Trust me, I’ve tried it more than once."

Foreign policy

In June 2021, Mace was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.

During the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, Mace wrote an article stating her opposition to military intervention in the conflict. She later said she was open to a partial No Fly Zone.

Mace voted for H.R. 7691, the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022, which would provide $40 billion in emergency aid to the Ukrainian government.

Gun rights

After the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022, Mace called for bipartisan action on gun laws. She said, "If we can't even do the bare minimum, we're never going to keep our kids safe in school. Somewhere in the middle is the truth."

Liz Cheney

Mace opposed the first attempt to remove Liz Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference, saying, "We should not be silencing voices of dissent. That is one of the reasons we are in this today, is that we have allowed QAnon conspiracy theorists to lead us." In early May, Mace appeared at fundraiser events with Cheney. During the second attempt to remove Cheney as chair, however, Mace voted to remove her.

Defense

In September 2021, Mace was among 135 House Republicans to vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to register for the draft.

Contempt of Congress

On October 21, 2021, Mace was one of nine House Republicans who voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to appear before the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Explaining her vote, Mace said she was being "consistent" and wants "the power to subpoena" in the event that Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives in 2022.

Personal life

Mace's first marriage was to Chris Niemiec, a lawyer and JAG Corps officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. After they divorced, Mace married Curtis Jackson, with whom she had two children. They divorced in 2019. Mace became engaged to Patrick Bryant in 2022, but the couple broke up in 2023. She reportedly broke off the engagement after finding Bryant on a dating app.

Mace resides on Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina. On June 1, 2021, the Charleston Police Department opened an investigation after Mace's home was vandalized with profanity, three anarchy symbols, and graffiti in support of the PRO Act.

Mace is non-denominational Protestant. She has attended Seacoast Church, a South Carolina-based megachurch. .....

Electoral history

South Carolina House District 99 special election, 2018

Nancy Mace vs. Jen Gibson, general election in South Carolina 99th House District on November 6, 2018

See also

• Women in the United States House of Representatives