After Mace finishes fifth in the governor's primary, a circulating post-election essay calls her collapse 'years in the making', Mace blames her Epstein-files vote

On June 9, 2026, Nancy Mace finished fifth, last among the major candidates, in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary. In the reported count she drew roughly 11 percent of the vote (about 11.4 percent, some 37,000 ballots), behind Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Attorney General Alan Wilson, Rep. Ralph Norman and businessman Rom Reddy. Evette (the Trump-endorsed candidate, whom the former president backed over Mace on May 29) and Wilson advanced to a June 23 runoff; Mace did not qualify. (Vote figures here are as reported during the count; the certified canvass governs the official result.)

The day after the primary, a post-election essay began circulating on Facebook. It was written by Mike Broemmel, a playwright, novelist and commentator who publishes the weekly political newsletter Politix INK, and posted to his public Facebook page. Headlined "Nancy Mace's Political Collapse Was Years in the Making, South Carolina Republicans Finally Render Their Verdict," the piece argues that the loss was not the product of a single bad week but the accumulation of years of controversy. Its thesis, in Broemmel's words:

"What ultimately doomed her campaign was not a single issue or policy disagreement. It was the cumulative effect of chaos.", Mike Broemmel

Mike Broemmel's post on his public Facebook page. The graphic, "Nancy Mace: Mentally Unbalanced. Politically Finished.", is his own, and the characterization is his opinion. More at mikebroemmel.com.

Broemmel's essay points to years of staff turnover, public feuds, and criticism from former aides, and to Mace's high-profile clashes on Capitol Hill, building to a closing characterization:

"The common denominator in the turmoil was Nancy Mace herself.", Mike Broemmel

The essay is opinion and commentary, not reporting, and several of the accounts it recycles, including former-employee descriptions of office turmoil, are contested. Mace has consistently denied such characterizations from former staff and disputed many of those accounts. None of those underlying disputes has been adjudicated, and nothing in the essay is a finding of fact.

Mace herself has offered a different explanation for the result. In conceding, she pointed not to staff controversy but to her vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein:

"I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that. As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up.", Nancy Mace

She framed the defeat as a pause rather than an ending

"This isn't the end of the fight, but it is the end of a chapter.", Nancy Mace

and, despite having criticized Wilson during the campaign, endorsed him for the June 23 runoff over Trump's pick, Evette.

The "collapse" and "chaos" framing is Broemmel's opinion; the former-staff accounts the essay references are contested and unadjudicated, and Mace denies them. Nothing here is a finding of fact.

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Mike Broemmel's website, mikebroemmel.com.

Broemmel's weekly political newsletter, Politix INK, "authoritative, compelling weekly commentary on politics and civic affairs." Read and subscribe at mikebroemmel.com/politix-ink.

Sources & related coverage: Mike Broemmel, "Nancy Mace's Political Collapse Was Years in the Making" (Facebook, June 2026) · mikebroemmel.com · Politix INK newsletter · Primary result via NBC News, Roll Call and The Washington Post · Concession, endorsement and Epstein remarks via The Hill and HuffPost · See also the election-night dispatch "at the bottom of the pack" and the 2026 Governor Campaign entry.