Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina announced Monday she is running for governor in her home state.
Mace posted a campaign video with the announcement on her social media, stating, "God’s not done with South Carolina and neither am I. You and me. Our mission begins now."
The 47-year-old is currently in her third term in Congress.
She made headlines last fall after she introduced a resolution to "ban transgender women from using biological women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol," and pushed for the same legislation for any property that used public funds.
RELATED STORY | Rep. Nancy Mace tells Scripps News her new bills would limit bathroom use for transgender people
"I have PTSD from the sexual abuse I have suffered at the hands of a man. We have to, as women, draw a line in the sand, a big fat red line, about our rights," Mace said in a November interview with Scripps News about her bathroom bill legislation.
Earlier this year, she was criticized for using an anti-transgender slur while asking about USAID funding at a House Oversight Committee hearing.
During a nearly hour-long floor speech in February, Mace accused her ex-fiancé of physically abusing her, recording sex acts with her and others without their consent and conspiring with business associates in acts of rape and sexual misconduct.
RELATED STORY | Rep. Nancy Mace accuses ex-fiancé of assaulting her, raping others in House speech
She said she was speaking out because her home state’s top prosecutor didn’t take action even after she alerted investigators.
That same prosecutor, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, will be one of her opponents in the primary race for governor of South Carolina in 2026.
Wilson’s office called her comments in February “categorically false” and said the office “has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters.”
Mace was the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel, South Carolina’s prestigious military college, in 1999.
She began her work in public office in 2018 as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives before winning election to Congress in 2020.
Mace was one of seven House Republicans who signed a letter in 2021 stating that Congress did not have the authority to overturn the results of the 2020 election in President Donald Trump’s favor. She was also highly critical of the president's role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that same year.
However, she has since changed her tune about the president, endorsing him last year during his presidential campaign and using a clip of him in her announcement video in which he described her as a "fighter."
If elected to the gubernatorial office, Mace would be the second woman to hold the position in the state following former Gov. Nikki Haley from 2011 to 2017.
Current governor Henry McMaster is reaching the end of his second and final term.
