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U.S. House Oversight Committee

"What is a woman?", Mace vs. Martin O’Malley

Rep. Nancy Mace’s full exchange with former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley at the January 15, 2025 House Oversight Committee hearing on federal telework. Mace repeatedly asks O’Malley, then a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee, to define what a woman is; he deflects (“I’m talking to a woman right now, distinguished woman, elected representative”); and when Mace asks him to define a man instead, he answers by pointing to his sons.

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On January 15, 2025, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley testified before the House Oversight Committee on federal telework and workforce policies. At the time he was a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee. Rep. Nancy Mace questioned him.

This clip is the full back-and-forth from that exchange, cut from the committee hearing footage and captioned word-for-word:

  1. Mace opens: “Can you, a candidate to be chair of the Democrat Party, define what a woman is for me today?”
  2. As O’Malley deflects, Mace presses: “Can you define what a woman is? What is a woman?”
  3. O’Malley: “You’re going to ask me to define what a woman is?” Mace: “Yes, I am right now. You just said you could. Explain it to me.”
  4. O’Malley’s answer: “I’m talking to a woman right now, distinguished woman, elected representative.”
  5. Mace, again: “What is a woman?” O’Malley: “I think you’re kind of denigrating the purpose of this.” Mace: “You can’t define what a woman is.”
  6. Mace then flips the question: “In an effort to be fair and unbiased, can you define what a man is for me?” O’Malley answered by pointing to his family: “I have two sons.”

O’Malley did not win the DNC chair race; Democrats elected Minnesota party chair Ken Martin on February 1, 2025. What the footage documents is a sitting congresswoman’s own words and a witness’s responses at a public federal hearing.

Source: Hearing clip, YouTube