Mace Will Drag South Carolina Governor’s Race Into the Sewer
Picture: Win McNamee/Getty Photos
South Carolina has a status for soiled politics. Many individuals nonetheless keep in mind the 2000 Republican presidential major within the Palmetto State, when a well-orchestrated smear marketing campaign claiming that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate Black child reportedly helped George W. Bush win the competition and kill McCain’s momentum within the race. In 2009, then-Governor Mark Sanford’s profession derailed when he was caught participating in an extramarital affair whereas he claimed to be off mountain climbing within the Appalachian Path. Then in 2010, a GOP gubernatorial major in South Carolina grew to become dominated by claims from a blogger and a lobbyist that they’d extramarital affairs with fast-rising candidate Nikki Haley. The rumormongering in all probability backfired; Haley was elected governor, then resigned throughout her second time period to function Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In 2026, South Carolina can have its first wide-open GOP gubernatorial major since Haley’s first win. And it certain appears just like the state will get dragged into the sewer once more, significantly now that U.S. consultant Nancy Mace has entered the competition.
Mace is a sophisticated particular person. My colleague Rebecca Traister as soon as wrote that “maybe no elected official embodies the contortions of the fashionable Republican lady greater than Mace.” Mace was the primary lady to graduate from the South Carolina army school The Citadel. She has depicted herself as a job mannequin for conservative girls who wish to venture each femininity and power, whereas concurrently claiming to have been persecuted for each her gender and her ideology (she as soon as wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a “scarlet letter” after voting to remove Kevin McCarthy’s gavel). She remodeled herself from a Trump critic to a Trump sycophant virtually in a single day. Mace has extra lately gained consideration for her transphobia. She launched a marketing campaign towards a Home colleague, transgender lady Sarah McBride, earlier than the Delaware consultant was even sworn in, sponsoring a decision to “ban transgender girls from utilizing feminine restrooms contained in the Capitol.” Mace has additionally been conspicuous in incongruously linking her transphobia to her private historical past as a rape sufferer:
Mace has usually described the phantom menace of transgender girls in sports activities as a giant risk to girls. However probably the most notable factor about Mace’s transphobia is that she is claiming her personal state is a hotbed of deviancy. Simply previous to the announcement of her candidacy, Mace advised Fox Information that she “could also be pressured to run for governor as a result of I can’t watch my lovely, purple state of South Carolina go woke” and that “we’ve obtained this gender bending ideology in faculties and universities throughout South Carolina, and we’ve obtained to finish it.”
That is in all probability not going to go over nicely with South Carolina’s term-limited present governor, Henry McMaster. McMaster is considered Trump’s finest good friend within the state; he broke with Haley and U.S. senator Tim Scott to endorse the mogul in 2016, then led a legion of South Carolina politicians in backing Trump towards Haley within the 2024 primaries. McMaster has but to endorse anybody within the GOP major, however a number of candidates (together with his two-term lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette) are extra seemingly than Mace to obtain his blessing. Extra importantly, McMaster has Trump’s ear, and Trump’s endorsement within the major would possibly nicely be dispositive.
An early signal of the tone Mace will strike within the gubernatorial contest is her blizzard of assaults on one other long-time McMaster and Trump ally, four-term state lawyer basic Alan Wilson, because the South Carolina Each day Gazette reported:
At the beginning of the 12 months she started calling Wilson a “do-nothing lawyer basic.”
Then in February, Mace took to the Home flooring and accused 4 males, together with her ex-fiancé, of “a number of the most heinous crimes towards girls possible” throughout an almost hour-long ready speech.
The congresswoman mentioned she found 1000’s of images taken with hidden cameras in addition to recordings the “predators” made from themselves sexually assaulting girls over years. She was among the many victims …
Mace additionally accused Wilson of not addressing the crimes towards her and different girls.
Extra lately, she mentioned this of her fellow Republican officeholder when he introduced his personal candidacy:
“South Carolina’s obtained a selection: we are able to hold electing politicians who defend baby rapists and canopy up homicide instances … or we are able to elect somebody who kicks in doorways and cleans up the mess,” Mace wrote on X.
Mace additionally claimed Wilson’s occasion was “fifty ft from a college so none of Alan Wilson’s supporters on the intercourse offender registry may make it.”
Yikes. Aside from her expertise for self-promotion and her willingness to play very soiled, Mace’s most important benefit as a gubernatorial candidate is a base within the Lowcountry area; her most important rivals are from upstate (Evette, State Senator Josh Kimbrall, and Home Freedom Caucus congressman Ralph Norman) or from the Midlands area (Wilson). This, paired together with her title recognition, may give Mace a ticket to a runoff (South Carolina requires a majority vote for social gathering nominations). The media-hungry Mace had the lead in an early major ballot, launched final week, albeit with simply 16 p.c (in comparison with 15 p.c for Wilson).
One risk that might mess up her plans, nevertheless, is a rumored comeback bid by none apart from Sanford, who as soon as represented the congressional seat Mace holds right this moment. A contest that features each Mace and Sanford may positively get a little bit soiled.
