Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was described as increasingly “erratic” and possibly “beyond redemption” in a damaging New York Magazine story published Monday morning.
Mace had tried to get out ahead of the story hours before its release, issuing a blunt four-word statement on X Sunday night: “I’m not going anywhere.”
“As NY Mag publishes the next national hit piece against me tomorrow, the establishment doesn’t go after people who fall in line. They go after people who don’t,” Mace wrote in another X post. “I’ll take that as a compliment. When you stand for something, you make enemies. I’ve never let that stop me from doing my job – and I’m not starting now.”
New York Magazine’s bombshell story dropped as Mace gears up for South Carolina’s gubernatorial race, following a series of controversies and a surprising defection within her campaign.
“She’s not okay,” one of Mace’s former staffers told NY Magazine. “There’s nothing here I can point to and say, ‘Oh, this is normal.’”
“She’s deteriorated,” said another former staffer.
According to NY Magazine, the full breadth of Mace’s “erratic behavior” came into view following a profanity-laced altercation with security officers at Charleston International Airport on Oct. 30.
Later that year, in December, Mace campaign strategist Austin McCubbin abruptly resigned. He accused the congresswoman of betraying President Donald Trump’s trust by aligning with Democrats and some rogue Republicans by calling for the release of the Epstein files.
Mace is now facing another issue: a House Ethics Committee inquiry that will reportedly probe her “lodging expenses and reimbursement practices,” per Politico.
Mace’s volatility started coming into focus even before those incidents, however.
NY Magazine reported that Mace’s aides were tasked with delivering liquor to her late-night home parties and cleaning up her Airbnb rental properties.
“We were scared of her,” one of the former aides told NY Magazine. “She would make staffers cry.”
The story, titled “Nancy Mace Is Not Okay,” could further damage her chances in what’s shaping up to be a closely contested Republican gubernatorial primary.
In an effort to combat the problematic allegations she now faces, Mace has framed the NY Magazine report as a “hit piece” crafted to derail her political career.
“I listen to you, the people. I don’t listen to anyone else,” Mace said in a video posted on her X account. “I’ve never been a good ol’ boy. I never will be. And doing the same thing we’ve always done is what got us into this mess.”