Mace Wages Lonely Run For Governor

BY OLIVIA BEAVERS

COLUMBIA, S.C.—If GOP Rep. Nancy Mace is going to win her race for governor, she is going to do it mostly on her own.

Polls show Mace’s sharp-elbowed style appeals to a slice of Palmetto State voters who like to see their representative willing to fight. But in a crowded field of Republican candidates, she has spent much of her campaign enmeshed in personal controversies.

She has alienated much of the GOP political class in South Carolina, with critics saying Mace is turning friends into foes. Her run will test whether her outsider status will work against her, or boost her with antiestablishment voters in the GOP primary in June.

“People either love her or they hate her. There’s no in between,” said Lin Bennett, a former GOP state House representative. “I couldn’t even guess how that’s going to turn out with her.”

At the recent Clemson-South Carolina football game in Columbia, GOP political operatives, donors and officials who gathered in the Gridiron and the Champions boxes to watch the fierce rivals had little positive to say about the 48-year-old lawmaker. In conversations over four hours with more than two dozen people involved in GOP politics, The Wall Street Journal found none who said they supported Mace. The most charitable remark was “no com ment.”

Mace has embraced her status as lone operator. She said in a recent interview with Newsmax— in which she pushed for the release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein— that she wasn’t part of the elite in Washington. She said she doesn’t “get invited to parties, I don’t have any friends,” she said. “I have a dog.”

In the gubernatorial race, Mace is up against GOP candidates including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.) and Attorney General Alan Wilson. Polling so far has shown a tight and unsettled contest, with Mace scoring both the highest name recognition and the highest unfavorables in the field.

She is running as an advocate for victims of sexual assault and pledging to eliminate state income taxes and fight to ban transgender people from using bathrooms other than those of their sex assigned at birth.

No one in the South Carolina delegation in the U.S. House or Senate has endorsed Mace. Mace has also had high-profile clashes with staff and onetime allies. One of her former chiefs of staff even weighed a bid against her last cycle.

“What she didn’t understand is the fundamental reality that politics is the art of relationships. She has no political relationships whatsoever in South Carolina,” said Austin McCubbin, who was working as a consultant for the Mace campaign until recently.

McCubbin, who says he doesn’t dislike Mace, said on X this month that he was splitting from her campaign over --what he called her decision “to turn her back on MAGA.”

Mace posted on X after his announcement with a laughing GIF and wrote: “The feeling when a political ‘consultant’ demands $10k per month to give you bad advice…and they cry on social media when you turn them down.” McCubbin dismissed her remarks as untrue.

Her tough public image and media savvy still hold appeal.

“She’s a powerhouse. There’s no midway with Nancy. I like her…I think she’s feisty,” said Mara Brockbank, who leads the Carolina Republican Coalition in Charleston. Brockbank said she isn’t endorsing in the gubernatorial race, citing her position.

Mace declined a request for an interview.

In response to emailed questions, her campaign responded that Mace “has delivered nearly $400 million in infrastructure for South Carolina in the last two years, has a comprehensive plan to eliminate the state income tax, removed a sanctuary sheriff from office”—a reference to the 2024 election for Charleston County sheriff— “and stands with President Trump. Voters know this.”

Mace is in the middle of a public breakup with her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, whom she accused of sexual violence in a speech on the House floor. He has denied the allegations. Bryant filed a lawsuit against Mace in November arguing that she is falsely portraying him as a sexual predator.

Mace arrived in Washing--ton as a political underdog who flipped a competitive seat in 2020, running as a moderate with the backing of then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), the onetime GOP leader and later speaker. She had a compelling personal story as the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, attending the formerly all-male military college at a time when there was intense opposition to women being admitted.

“The first time I ever saw Nancy Mace, and she was climbing the rock wall, and there were people screaming at her: ‘Fall b—. Die b—,’” said Eric McQuade, who was a student at the Citadel while Mace was there. “There was a lot of hostility towards her, and that was palpable.” Asked to describe his impression of Mace’s time in the Citadel, McQuade replied: “Lonely.”

Three days into Mace’s first term, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021, and Mace said Trump didn’t have a future in the Republican Party. Mace later pivoted to being a strong Trump supporter. Trump backed a GOP candidate challenging Mace in 2022 but endorsed her in the next election.