Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is out of the race for South Carolina governor with a brutal defeat after a wild ride in American politics.
With 65 percent of the votes counted, Mace was polling in last place, with just 11.6 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Conceding on Tuesday night, Mace posted on X, “Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life. Every vote I cast, every hearing I called, every fight I picked — it was always for you." She added that her vote to release the Epstein files also saw her lose support.
“I will always be grateful for the people of South Carolina who trusted me, fought with me, and refused to look the other way. This isn’t the end of the fight. It’s just the end of this chapter.”
The final results come after Trump threw his support behind South Carolina Lt. Governor Pamela Evette in the crowded race despite candidates vying for his endorsement and touting how closely aligned they were with the MAGA agenda.
Evette, alongside South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, will advance to a Republican primary runoff after neither secured more than 50 percent of the vote. Evette holds the lead with 29.5 percent, while Wilson placed second with 26.2 percent.
Mace was first elected to Congress to represent South Carolina’s 1st congressional district in 2020 after serving in the state assembly. She ran her first race as a centrist to oust Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham.
But the once purple district was redrawn after the 2020 census to become solidly red, and Mace slowly shifted from a Republican Trump critic to a full-blown MAGA minion.
The GOP member was once one of just seven House Republicans to sign a letter stating Congress did not have the authority to overturn the 2020 election. She also blasted Trump’s election accusations ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, but she stopped short of voting to impeach him for it.
But the president, known for holding grudges, did not forget her criticism. He endorsed her Republican challenger ahead of the 2022 midterms, but Mace was able to prevail and hold the seat in 2022 and was reelected again in 2024 after shifting to be a close ally to the president.
When Mace officially launched her campaign for governor last August, she vowed a “South America First” agenda and repeatedly touted her support for Trump, used pictures of the two of them together while referring to herself as “MAGA Mace.” She has also referred to herself as “Trump in high heels.”
Late last month, Mace noted in a post that Trump had not endorsed her primary rival Evette and accused the lieutenant governor of misrepresenting her relationship with the president.
Just hours later Trump publicly endorsed Evette in a post on May 29, calling her a “good friend, fighter and WINNER.” Mace responded by posting a photo of her with the president.
Last year, Mace was one of the four House Republicans to help force the vote to release the full Jeffrey Epstein files despite the threat of Trump and House GOP leadership’s wrath on Capitol Hill. The congresswoman recently acknowledged her support for the bill likely played a role in costing her the endorsement.
But in the final stretch, Mace trailed in a series of polls that put her at times in fourth and even fifth place in the race behind Evette. the state attorney general and her congressional colleague.
On primary day, Mace accused an Evette “campaign member” of assaulting one of her supporters, posting a screenshot of the June 8 Greenville County arrest record and a video of a man who appeared to roughly grab a bullhorn out of another man’s hand on the side of a road. Mace demanded that the lieutenant governor “disavow the violent behavior by her campaign.”
It was the latest in a series of allegations lobbed by the congresswoman over the past few years.
Mace waged a public war with GOP Rep. Cory Mills, whom she demanded be expelled from the House in April. She accused him of violence against women and lying about his military service.
She has also been deeply critical of GOP South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for his comments during the first month about the war in Iran while also walking a fine ine and praising the president for launching the strikes against Iran in late February.
Last February, Mace accused her ex-fiancé of physical assault, rape and sexually exploiting her and multiple women. She named several other men on the House floor and accused Wilson, who was running for governor, of slow-walking the investigation into her ex.
The South Carolina congresswoman backed the effort to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023 but has also been deeply critical of current House GOP leadership in recent months.
At the same time, she has pushed back on multiple accusations by former staffers, who accused her of volatile behavior and excessive drinking.
In another dramatic shift for Mace during her time in office, she once claimed to support transgender rights before launching a full-blown crusade against transgender women being allowed to use women’s restrooms and waging a nasty campaign against her incoming House colleague after Delaware elected the first transgender member of Congress, Rep. Sarah McBride.
