Part of: 2026 Governor Campaign
'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.
Having finished fifth in the June 9 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace used her concession to confirm she will not return to the U.S. House. She reaffirmed she is not running for Congress again and, per her concession remarks, said:
"Well, my time is up at the end of this year."
Her current House term ends in January 2027, and reporting after the loss had her "headed back to the private sector" (The Hill).
Mace has framed the exit as keeping a promise. In a June 10 post she wrote, "When I ran in 2020 I said I'd only serve 3 terms and my time is up." The contemporaneous record for that specific personal pledge is thin. What is documented is that Mace signed the U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge for the 118th Congress, a promise to cosponsor and vote for a constitutional amendment capping House service at three terms and Senate service at two (U.S. Term Limits, 118th Congress signers). That pledge commits a member to vote for term limits as law; it is not a personal promise to leave after a third term, and many of its signers serve longer. By the arithmetic, three two-year terms from her January 2021 swearing-in run through the end of 2026.
See also her own framing of the defeat, "I chose wrong if the goal was winning an election", and her endorsement of Alan Wilson in the runoff.
Sources & related coverage. The Hill (June 2026) · Fox Carolina, concession speech (video) · Ballotpedia
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