Mace campaign ad claims Cunningham 'voted for $5 million in taxpayer funds' for campaigns, rated Half True

A 2020 Mace attack ad claiming Joe Cunningham voted for $5 million in taxpayer funds for politicians' campaigns was rated Half True by PolitiFact, which found the funds came from fines rather than taxes and that the personal-expense rules did not apply to Cunningham.

October 12, 2020

During her successful 2020 campaign to unseat incumbent Rep. Joe Cunningham, Mace ran an attack ad claiming:

"Says Joe Cunningham voted for $5 million in taxpayer funds to go into his and other politicians' campaigns to pay for personal expenses and TV ads."

PolitiFact rated the claim "Half True." The bill involved voluntary matching funds drawn from fines, not taxes, and the personal-expense rules Mace cited applied only to challengers, not to Cunningham.

Source: PolitiFact · archived

Mace vows to be 'more of a menace than ever' after the primary loss

Days after her fifth-place finish in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace struck a defiant tone, signaling she would stay politically active and saying she intends to be 'more of a menace than ever' as her House term winds down.

June 10, 2026 · Dispatch

"Getting my ass kicked": Mace's post-loss X tear, from beans to vowing "revenge" on Trump

After finishing fifth (~12.1%) in the June 9, 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Mace posted a days-long run of defiant messages on X that outlets including Townhall, The Blaze and HuffPost described as a 'crash out.' She wrote she was 'getting my ass kicked,' posted a bowl of beans, vowed to be 'more of a menace than ever,' and said that the answer to whether she would get 'revenge on Trump for ending your political career' was 'yes.'

June 10, 2026 · Dispatch

'I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election': Mace blames her Epstein-files vote for the loss

After her fifth-place finish in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace attributed her defeat to her vote to release the unredacted Epstein files over President Trump's objections, and marked the loss with a baked-beans photo on X, a callback to a viral 2024 meme.

June 9, 2026 · Dispatch

'My time is up at the end of this year': Mace confirms she's leaving Congress

In her concession after the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace confirmed she will not seek re-election to the U.S. House: 'my time is up at the end of this year.' Her House term ends in January 2027. She has described the exit as keeping a three-term pledge she says she made in 2020, a characterization examined below.

September 11, 2026 · Dispatch

Mace Accused Tara Palmeri of 'Rape Shaming.' She Then Said the Only Trump Accuser She Could Name Was a 'Porn Star' Who 'Wasn't Accusing Him of Rape.'

In a September 7, 2026 uncut release of her September 1 interview, journalist Tara Palmeri showed two exchanges she cut from the original broadcast. In the first, Mace called Palmeri's question about how she reconciles supporting Trump with women's advocacy 'rape shaming.' In the second, asked whether she believes the women who accused Trump of rape, Mace named only a 'porn star' she believed was not accusing him of rape, apparently not knowing that E. Jean Carroll specifically accused Trump of rape and a jury found him liable for sexual abuse.

September 8, 2026 · Dispatch

Mace claimed she took "about six weeks" off the campaign after her father died. She was on a debate stage seven days later.

On September 1, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace told journalist Tara Palmeri she left the campaign trail 'for about six weeks' after her father died April 14, and 'probably didn't raise any money' or 'make any phone calls at the end.' The public record contradicts the timeline at every point: she appeared in a formal multi-candidate debate at the College of Charleston on April 21, seven days after his death and two days before his April 23 funeral. By May 8, her X archive shows full campaign activity. On May 27 she posted '18 hours on the campaign trail today.'