"NO REGRETS": Trump endorses Evette over Mace; Mace ties the snub to her Epstein vote

On May 29, 2026, President Trump endorsed Mace's primary rival Pam Evette for South Carolina governor. Mace responded on X with "NO REGRETS," directly linking the endorsement snub to her vote to release the Epstein files.

May 29, 2026

On May 29, 2026, President Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pam Evette for the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, bypassing Mace. Mace responded on X the same day:

"I voted to release the Epstein files. NO REGRETS."

She elaborated on what she said was the reason for the snub:

"I know I put the likelihood of an endorsement on the line when I demanded transparency on the Epstein files… If sacrificing my values is the price of an endorsement, I will never pay it."

Mace had entered the governor's race as a leading candidate. The endorsement of Evette, a Trump ally with no comparable profile on the Epstein issue, was widely covered as a direct consequence of Mace's months-long conflict with the Trump DOJ over the files.

Source: The Hill · Daily Caller

“NO REGRETS”, Mace ties Trump’s snub to her Epstein vote

After President Trump endorsed her primary rival Pam Evette on May 29, 2026, Mace posted on X: ‘I voted to release the Epstein files. NO REGRETS.’

June 18, 2026 · Dispatch

"We don't have any faith in our justice system": after the loss, Mace recirculates a February Epstein documentary

On June 18, 2026, nine days after conceding fifth place in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace recirculated a clip from Tommy G's February 25, 2026 YouTube documentary on the Epstein files, paired with a post declaring a 'two-tiered system of justice' and 'no faith' that co-conspirators will ever be jailed. The clip is nearly four months old; she surfaced it days after framing her defeat as the price of her Epstein-files vote. This dispatch catalogs the posts as public artifacts and takes no position on Mace's medical or psychological state.

June 9, 2026 · Dispatch

Mace concedes fifth place: "I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that"

On June 9, 2026, after finishing fifth with roughly 12.1 percent of the vote in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Mace said she lost support because of her vote to release the Epstein files and called it a choice made on principle.

June 7, 2026 · Dispatch

Mace on CNN: releasing the Epstein files was "a price I am unwilling to pay" for an endorsement

On CNN on June 7, 2026, days before the South Carolina governor primary, Mace said that if Trump's endorsement required her not to vote to release the Epstein files, it was "a price I am unwilling to pay."

July 13, 2026 · Dispatch

"It may have ended my political career": Nancy Mace to Chris Cuomo

On NewsNation's CUOMO, two days after Lindsey Graham's death opened a U.S. Senate seat, Nancy Mace said Trump's opposition following her Epstein-files break "may have ended my political career," conceded "I got my butt beat in the governor's race," and, in an answer nominally about ICE, argued that endorsements "do matter, especially in South Carolina." Chris Cuomo urged her on air to run in the special election.

June 19, 2026 · Dispatch

Trump endorses both SC runoff candidates: 'These were the two that I was hoping would get into a Runoff'

On June 19, 2026, four days before the June 23 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial runoff, President Trump posted on Truth Social that rather than choose between the two candidates still standing, Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson, he would endorse both. He wrote that 'these were the two that I was hoping would get into a Runoff, and they did.' Neither is Nancy Mace, who finished fifth (about 12.1 percent) in the June 9 primary and has said her vote to release the Epstein files cost her Trump's support. The Washington Post had reported on June 16 that Trump was weighing exactly this dual endorsement. Post & Courier reporter Caitlin Byrd surfaced the post.