CHAPIN, S.C. — Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina on Monday used an almost hour-long speech on the U.S. Home flooring to accuse her ex-fiancé of bodily abusing her, recording intercourse acts along with her and others with out their consent, and conspiring with enterprise associates in acts of rape and sexual misconduct.
Mace stated she was talking out as a result of her dwelling state’s high prosecutor didn’t take motion even after she alerted investigators. That very same prosecutor is prone to be Mace’s opponent if she runs for governor of South Carolina in 2026, which she is contemplating.
Saying she was going “scorched earth,” Mace detailed how, in November 2023, she says she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable. We’re talking about rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district.”
Mace talked about 4 males as being concerned, together with Charleston-area businessman Patrick Bryant, who was her fiancé till 2023 and went door-to-door stumping for her throughout her 2022 reelection marketing campaign.
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The AP wasn’t capable of independently confirm Mace’s claims. Bryant advised AP: “I categorically deny these allegations. I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name.”
Mace accused South Carolina Legal professional Common Alan Wilson of slow-walking any investigation of Bryant and the opposite males after she introduced the pictures and video to state authorities.
“Did South Carolina’s attorney general have any of these predators indicted after being provided clear cut-and-dry evidence including video, photos and witnesses?” Mace requested, noting that her workplace had stood up a tip line for anybody with data on the allegations.
In an announcement after Mace’s speech, Wilson’s workplace referred to as her feedback relating to the prosecutor’s conduct “categorically false” and stated the workplace “has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters.”
Mace, a former South Carolina state Home member, was the primary lady to graduate from The Citadel, the state’s army faculty, the place her father then served as commandant of cadets. Briefly serving within the state Home, in 2020 she turned the primary Republican lady elected to signify South Carolina in Congress, flipping the first District after a single time period with a Democratic consultant.
Her determination to air the allegations in a flooring speech was uncommon. In a launch, Mace careworn that members’ statements on the Home flooring “are quintessential ‘legislative acts’” and thereby protected by the “speech or debate” clause, which usually protects lawmakers from being sued for what they are saying.
“This isn’t a story about bitter ex-girlfriends or consensual sex tapes — there are plenty of those. I don’t care what two consenting adults agree to do,” Mace stated. She talked about a dozen payments on which she had labored within the Home, on subjects starting from stopping voyeurism to banning transgender ladies from utilizing ladies’s bogs on the U.S. Capitol or Home workplace buildings.
In 2019, Mace spoke publicly for the primary time a few sexual assault she stated had occurred greater than 20 years earlier, addressing South Carolina legislative colleagues in advocating for including a rape and incest exception to a state Home ban on all abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat.
On Monday, Mace stated she was joined within the Home gallery by a number of ladies she stated had been victimized by Bryant and the opposite males. Among the many Republican lawmakers who sat behind Mace throughout her speech to indicate their help have been Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo, and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.
“Nancy Mace is our friend and we wanted to support her and give her the encouragement she needed to get that message out,” Boebert stated.
Mace, 47, gained a 3rd U.S. Home time period in November and has stated that she is “seriously considering” a 2026 run for South Carolina governor. If she enters that race, she’s going to doubtless face Wilson — in his fourth time period and in addition the son of Rep. Joe Wilson — within the Republican major.
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Mace has largely supported President Donald Trump, working for his 2016 marketing campaign however levying criticism in opposition to him following the Jan. 6, 2021, violence on the U.S. Capitol, critique that spurred Trump to again a GOP challenger in her 2022 race. Mace defeated that opponent, gained reelection and was endorsed by Trump in her 2024 marketing campaign.
Mace declined extra remark to reporters within the Capitol after the speech. Requested how she felt now, she stated: “I’m at peace.”
