Issues appeared to be going properly for Nancy Mace two years in the past. The South Carolina Republican was a rising star in Congress and had simply fended off a major from a Trump-backed opponent. She was on TV lots. And that winter, Mace delivered a searing roast of her colleagues at D.C.’s annual press membership dinner, carrying a half-sheer, floor-length black robe.
However since her sudden vote to take away Kevin McCarthy as Home speaker in October, Mace hasn’t been having such a very good time. She’s develop into embroiled in a nasty public feud with the now-former speaker. Lots of Mace’s staffers deserted her after which brutally trashed her to the media. Her former chief of employees weighed attempting to major her.
Congress is a spot the place lawmakers with massive egos take nakedly self-serving dangers to develop into well-known. However Mace could also be an instance of what occurs when that springboard to fame goes awry.
The 2-term Republican, identified for being the primary girl to graduate from the as soon as all-male Citadel navy school, took an opportunity when she aligned herself with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and the opposite six attention-seeking Home Republicans who compelled a vote on McCarthy’s speakership. The transfer plunged the Home into leaderless chaos for 3 weeks — and for Mace, set into movement a employees revolt, a seemingly countless cycle of unhealthy press and, now, a tricky reelection.
Mace faces a major Tuesday that can take a look at how a lot goodwill this all has price her in South Carolina’s coastal low nation. Mace is locked in a race in opposition to Catherine Templeton, an official in former Gov. Nikki Haley’s administration who entered with a nudge from McCarthy’s advisors. Templeton claims Mace “flip-flops for fame.”
The previous speaker, who retired on the finish of final 12 months, hasn’t hidden the truth that he’s working in opposition to the members answerable for ending his profession. McCarthy informed CNN in November that Mace didn’t deserve one other time period due to her “flip-flopping.” In April, a McCarthy-aligned tremendous PAC spent $700,000 on adverts focusing on Mace and Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) — all of whom voted in opposition to McCarthy.
It’s Mace’s second critical major as an incumbent who flipped a swing seat in 2020 — however her first as an incumbent with Donald Trump’s endorsement. After criticizing the previous president, she’s now totally embracing the MAGA motion. However her transformation doesn’t ring true to some GOP activists within the district, who don’t perceive what this model of Nancy Mace stands for.
“Less than a year ago, she said she’s a caucus of one, she’s independent. Then all of the sudden she’s ultra-MAGA. So which way are you? People are confused,” stated Xiaodan Li, the founding father of Associates of Liberty, a conservative group that’s backing Templeton.
Mace’s critics additionally level to how simply two years in the past, McCarthy helped Mace beat Katie Arrington, Trump’s decide within the GOP major, after Mace was important of Trump for his help of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. McCarthy did important fundraising for Mace. She returned the favor, typically supporting McCarthy — up till she voted to eliminate him.
Mace justified her vote in opposition to McCarthy by arguing she did it to advance her personal legislative priorities on points like entry to contraception and rape kits, which she stated had been being sidelined by the then-speaker.
Observers like Matt Wylie, a nationwide GOP guide who lives and votes in Hilton Head, in Mace’s district, stated it appeared like simply one other method for Mace to make a reputation for herself in Congress. “She decided against voting for McCarthy as speaker in the end because it was another opportunity to get on TV,” Wylie stated. “I think I had a fundraising appeal within minutes of taking that vote.”
After Mace’s chief of employees acquired caught attempting to barter between McCarthy and Mace throughout what ex-staffers described to HuffPost as an particularly tense time, Mace’s vote in opposition to McCarthy despatched her workplace into disarray.
“[Mace] was always a paranoid person, but that’s when it went sideways,” a former staffer stated.
Mace didn’t reply to a request for remark in regards to the marketing campaign or the turnover in her workplace.
Mace parted methods along with her longtime chief of employees, Dan Hanlon, in December, sparking an exodus of key staffers. Aggrieved former Mace aides leaked unflattering tales to the press about their ex-boss, together with that she talked about eager to get punched on Jan. 6, 2021, so she may get on TV. A month after leaving, Hanlon filed paperwork to problem Mace for her seat.
It’s just about remarkable on the Hill for a staffer to run in opposition to their boss. However Hanlon finally didn’t observe by way of together with his risk to major Mace as soon as it turned clear that Templeton was an actual challenger, with entry to donors and a line to McCarthy’s advisors.
“At the end of the day, she is my congresswoman. I am a resident of Hilton Head. As a voter, I lost confidence in Nancy Mace,” Hanlon informed HuffPost. “The race was never about me. It was always about having a serious person for a serious job.”
It’s not clear how a lot Mace’s D.C. drama issues to voters. Mace was solidly forward of Templeton by 25 factors in a latest public ballot, and is favored to win reelection if she clinches the nomination. And although Templeton managed to reasonably outraise Mace within the final fundraising quarter, Mace has spent virtually $1.6 million for the reason that starting of the election cycle to Templeton’s $400,000, in response to FEC reviews (although these don’t seize the race’s house stretch or the main outdoors spending that’s poured into the district).
Within the remaining weeks of the marketing campaign, Templeton, who was endorsed by South Carolina GOP Rep. Joe Wilson, has gone after Mace for a report within the Washington Submit that alleged Mace might have overcharged the Home beneath a program that permits members to reimburse themselves for dwelling bills. All through the marketing campaign, Mace has referred to as Templeton, who didn’t reply to requests for remark for this piece, McCarthy’s “puppet.”
However even the previous staffers who left through the McCarthy episode don’t see Mace’s major as a career-ender.
“Last cycle she thought that Donald Trump should be sent to prison. This cycle she’s the most MAGA person out there. She has no shame and she doesn’t care at all. All that matters to her is that she wins. She enjoys the fight, and she’s super smart and I think able to pull off what a lot of people wouldn’t be able to because she understands the dynamics of where she needs to be,” stated one other former staffer.
Will People, Mace’s former enterprise accomplice and an ex-GOP operative who runs a South Carolina digital information outlet, praised Mace for her “independence” within the McCarthy vote and stated she’s all the time been her personal finest adviser in relation to her picture.
“A lot of folks, you’re not your best PR advisor. But I think she’s always been her best PR advisor,” People stated. “She’s definitely got a little bit of an edge, and you want somebody that’s maybe a little willing to have an impulsive reaction from time to time.”
