Background and career
Nancy Ruth Mace (born December 4, 1977) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served in the South Carolina General Assembly from 2018 to 2020. In 1999, Mace became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina, which was led at the time by her father, Emory Mace, the commandant of cadets. From 2018 to 2020, she represented the 99th district in the South Carolina House of Representatives, covering Hanahan, northeast Mount Pleasant, and Daniel Island. Mace was elected to Congress in 2020, defeating incumbent Democrat Joe Cunningham. She was re-elected in 2022 and 2024. She is the first Republican woman elected to Congress from South Carolina. She was a candidate for governor of South Carolina in 2026, but was eliminated in the primary election.
Mace was born on December 4, 1977, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to United States Army brigadier general James Emory Mace and schoolteacher Anne Mace. Her father served as commandant of cadets at The Citadel from 1997 to 2005. In 1999, she became the first woman to graduate from the Citadel's Corps of Cadets program, earning a degree in business administration magna cum laude. She wrote the book In the Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel (2001) about the experience. In 2004, she earned a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. In 2008, she founded the Mace Group, a public relations and consulting firm. She became co-owner of the website FITSNews, which she had begun working for in 2007, and then sold her stake in 2013. The site covers South Carolina politics and current events.
In 2012, Mace volunteered for the campaign of presidential candidate Ron Paul. In August 2013, she announced her candidacy in the 2014 election for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in South Carolina. She received 19,560 votes (6.2% of the vote) in the primary election on June 10, 2014, behind Lindsey Graham (56.4%), Lee Bright (15.4%), Richard Cash (8.3%), and Det Bowers (7.3%). She supported Donald Trump for president in 2016 as a coalitions director and field director for the campaign.
On September 18, 2017, Mace filed as a Republican to run in a special election for the South Carolina State House District 99 seat being vacated by Jimmy Merrill, who resigned earlier that month after an indictment and plea deal for several ethics violations. She received 49.4% of the vote in the November 14 Republican primary, 13 votes short of winning the nomination outright. She defeated the second-place finisher, Mount Pleasant town councilman Mark Smith, in the November 28 runoff, 63–37%. Mace defeated Democrat Cindy Boatwright in the January 16, 2018, general election, with 2,071 votes to 1,587 (57–43%). She took office on January 23, 2018.
Mace defeated the Democratic nominee, Mount Pleasant resident Jen Gibson, in the November 6, 2018, general election.
In 2019, Mace successfully advocated for the inclusion of exceptions for rape and incest in a bill for a six-week abortion ban that passed the South Carolina state house. In a speech on the state house floor, Mace revealed that she had been raped at age 16. She has said she opposes abortion but does not believe the government has the right to deny the procedure to a victim of rape or incest. Mace co-sponsored a bill to oppose offshore drilling off South Carolina's coast. She opposed President Donald Trump's plan to offer oil drilling leases off South Carolina beaches. The Conservation Voters of South Carolina gave Mace a 100% Lifetime rating for her voting record against offshore drilling and seismic testing. The South Carolina Club for Growth gave Mace its 2019 Tax Payer Hero Award. In May 2020, Governor Henry McMaster signed into law Mace's prison reform bill, which ends the shackling of pregnant women in prison.
