Part of: The 2026 South Carolina Senate Special Election
One Sunday, four networks: how Nancy Mace’s answer on Lindsey Graham’s seat changed through the day
A real-footage supercut of Nancy Mace’s July 12, 2026 media tour, the day Sen. Lindsey Graham died. Across CBS, Fox, CNN and her own X account, her answer on whether she would run for his Senate seat moved from grief, to a coy “they pull me back in” tease, to “I’ll certainly take a look,” to “I would be an idiot not to,” to “I’m not pursuing it,” to “there will be time to decide.” Every line is verbatim; readers can judge.
Sen. Lindsey Graham died late Saturday night, July 11, 2026. By Sunday, Rep. Nancy Mace, who lost the June governor’s primary and had said her time in elected office was ending, was on network after network, and her answer on whether she would run for his seat kept moving:
- CBS News, Sunday morning: “We’re stunned. Nobody thought this could happen anytime soon.”
- CBS News: “He was funny. He was hard. He was smart, brilliant.”
- @NancyMace on X, 9:43 AM: “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in…” (a Godfather reference she posted herself)
- CNN: “I love a little self-deprecating humor.” (asked about that post)
- Fox News: “I’m never going to shut the door. I love the state of South Carolina. You only live once.”
- Fox News: “If the people of South Carolina would like me to serve in that capacity, I’ll certainly take a look at it.”
- Fox News: “I would be an idiot not to at least look at it.”
- CBS News: “I would be remiss if I didn’t at least consider it.”
- CBS News: “I told the governor that perhaps he should appoint himself as the interim senator.”
- CNN, that afternoon: “We can’t afford to lose any seats in the House. I’m not pursuing it.”
- CNN: “There will be time to decide. You know, do I want to look at this race or not?”
Every line is her own, verbatim, from her July 12 public appearances; the clips are short excerpts shown for commentary. Sources: CBS News, Fox News, CNN, and her own X account.
Read next
- July 16, 2026 · Dispatch
"So he can go fly a kite", Mace fires back at Timmons over Graham's Senate seat
After Rep. William Timmons said he could not support Nancy Mace or Ralph Norman for Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat and called the rush to claim it 'thirsty,' Mace's on-camera reply to Fox Carolina was blunt: 'So he can go fly a kite.'
July 20, 2026 · Dispatch"I'm not chasing another title, I'm chasing justice": Nancy Mace rules out the Senate race, and with it, public office
On July 20, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace announced in a 64-second video on X that she will not enter the special election for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. 'I want to be straight with you. I'm not running for the US Senate, not because I'm backing down from a fight, but because the one I'm already in matters right now.' The announcement came three days after President Trump endorsed Graham's sister, interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, for the full term. Combined with her June 10 decision not to seek re-election to the House, Mace is now set to leave public office when her term ends in January 2027. This dispatch reproduces the video statement in full, verbatim, alongside the separate written statement she posted with it.
July 20, 2026 · Dispatch"I would be an idiot not to at least look at it": filing for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat opens Tuesday, and Nancy Mace has seven days
Candidate filing for the special election to fill the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat opens Tuesday, July 21, 2026 and closes one week later, July 28. Rep. Ralph Norman formally entered the race July 18, defying President Trump's endorsement of interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone. Businessman Mark Lynch has also declared. Rep. Nancy Mace has not filed, has not announced, and has not closed the door, telling Fox News on July 12, 'I would be an idiot not to at least look at it.' This dispatch catalogs the filing calendar, the interim appointment, Nordone's July 18 tribute letter to her brother, Trump's 'RUN, DARLINE, RUN!' endorsement, the Emerson College poll showing Mace at 10 percent, and her own July 12 statements verbatim.
- July 12, 2026 · Dispatch
'I would be an idiot not to': how Nancy Mace's answer on Lindsey Graham's Senate seat changed across one Sunday
Sen. Lindsey Graham died late Saturday night, July 11, 2026. By Sunday, Rep. Nancy Mace was on CBS, Fox, CNN and her own X account, and her answer on whether she would run for his Senate seat kept moving. She led with grief ('we're stunned'), posted a Godfather meme at 9:43 AM ('they pull me back in'), told Fox 'I'm never going to shut the door' and 'I would be an idiot not to at least look at it,' told CBS 'I would be remiss if I didn't at least consider it,' and by that afternoon told CNN 'we can't afford to lose any seats in the House, I'm not pursuing it' before adding 'there will be time to decide.' Every line is verbatim from her July 12 appearances, reproduced here so readers can judge.
August 23, 2026 · DispatchNancy Mace's Top 5 Political Failures: dead last for governor, the Speaker she toppled for nothing, and one law in nine years, a post office
A catalog of the record. Across nine years in office Nancy Mace built a national brand and almost no results to match it. She finished dead last, fifth of five, in the 2026 Republican primary for governor. She helped throw out a sitting Speaker of the House and got a more MAGA Speaker, three weeks of paralysis, and a revenge primary for her trouble. She lost to Lindsey Graham the one time she ran against him, in 2014, then talked herself out of his seat in 2026 after polling at 10 percent. Of the 192 bills she has sponsored, the only ones enacted rename post offices. And the Trump endorsement she remade her whole career to win went, twice, to her opponents. Every figure and quote below is public and dated.
July 28, 2026 · Dispatch'He believed that showing up mattered': Mace issues a press release as every other SC House Republican attends Graham's funeral
On July 28, 2026, Sen. Lindsey Graham's casket lay in the US Capitol Rotunda and then was carried to Washington National Cathedral for his funeral. Every other South Carolina House Republican was there. Rep. Sheri Biggs and Rep. Joe Wilson presented wreaths at his casket. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman accompanied the South Carolina delegation. Rep. Nancy Mace, who spent two weeks publicly weighing a run for Graham's Senate seat and publicly clashing with him during his lifetime, did not attend. Her office issued a press release statement instead. Filing for the special election primary closed at noon the same day.