Part of: The House Ethics reimbursement investigation (2025-2026) · House Ethics Committee Investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace (OCC Review 25-5681)
Six months after her $16,700 fine was slashed to $1,200, Mace still hadn't paid. She says she 'cut a check this week.'
Six months after the S.C. House Ethics Committee reduced Mace's state ethics fine from $16,700 to $1,200, public records showed she had still not paid. Confronted with those records, Mace said she 'cut a check this week.'
Six months after the S.C. House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reduce Nancy Mace's $16,700 in state ethics fines to $1,200, public records reviewed by the SC Daily Gazette showed she had not paid even that reduced amount.
Confronted with those records in June 2024, Mace said she had "cut a check this week."
The timeline at that point:
- 2021: Post and Courier first reports $5,100 in unpaid fines; Mace's office says she will address them.
- 2022: Fines become a re-election campaign issue; Mace's campaign again says she is "in the process" of resolving them.
- March 2023: Tab stands at $16,700. Committee staff notes years of unanswered outreach.
- December 12, 2023: Mace closes her state campaign account, writing off $11,200 as "technical accounting errors."
- December 14, 2023: Committee votes unanimously to cut the fine to $1,200 after her appeal cites hardship.
- June 2024: Records show the $1,200 still unpaid. She says she "cut a check this week."
Mace's congressional salary is $174,000. The State Ethics Committee cited the closure of her campaign account and COVID-era family hardship as the basis for the 93-percent reduction.
Sources: SC Daily Gazette (June 20, 2024) · Post and Courier (Dec. 14, 2023) · Full story: State ethics fines reduced from $16,700 to $1,200
Read next
- June 20, 2024 · Dispatch
After records showed she still hadn't paid ethics fine, Rep. Mace says she 'cut a check this week'
Six months after the S.C. House Ethics Committee reduced Mace's $16,700 fine to $1,200, public records showed she still had not paid even that reduced amount. Confronted with the records, Mace said she had 'cut a check this week.'
December 14, 2023 · DispatchShe pleaded hardship. The committee gave her a 93% discount on $16,700 in unpaid ethics fines.
The S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to cut Mace's $16,700 in accumulated state campaign-finance fines to $1,200 -- just over 7 percent of what she owed -- after she appealed citing financial hardship, COVID-era family health issues, and post-January 6 death threats. Mace earns a $174,000 congressional salary and had purchased a $3.9 million home. She had ignored committee outreach for years.
December 14, 2023 · DispatchNancy Mace racked up nearly $17K in fines as a state rep. She will only pay a fraction of it.
Nick Reynolds reported that the S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously on December 14, 2023 to reduce Mace's $16,700 in unpaid state campaign-finance fines to just $1,200 -- 7 percent of what she owed -- after she filed an appeal citing financial hardship, COVID-era family health issues, and death threats. Mace earns a $174,000 congressional salary and, with her partner, had purchased a $3.9 million Isle of Palms home. Committee members noted she had ignored repeated outreach for years.
- December 14, 2023 · Dispatch
SC's Nancy Mace owes $1,200 in ethics fees after legislators reduce her tab
Jessica Holdman reported that the S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to reduce Mace's $16,700 in state campaign-finance fines to $1,200. The fines had first surfaced in P&C reporting in 2021, resurfaced as a 2022 campaign issue, and sat unaddressed for years despite repeated staff outreach. Mace closed her campaign account in late November by donating $3,800 to a domestic abuse shelter and writing off $11,200 as accounting errors.
March 2, 2026 · DispatchUS Rep. Nancy Mace accused of misusing taxpayer funds to cover her DC housing and meals
Caitlin Byrd reported the Office of Congressional Conduct found 'substantial reason to believe' Mace improperly claimed nearly $9,500 in excess housing reimbursements tied to her $1.6 million Capitol Hill townhouse, also billing over $9,400 for food. Mace refused to cooperate with the OCC probe; her lawyer called the report 'fundamentally flawed.'
March 2, 2026 · DispatchHouse Ethics to investigate Mace on reimbursement practices
Roll Call's same-day Washington-bureau confirmation that the House Ethics Committee had opened a formal investigation into Mace's reimbursement practices, amplifying the Post and Courier's reporting for a DC-insider audience.