US Rep. Nancy Mace is aiming high, officially throwing her hat in the ring for the South Carolina 2026 gubernatorial race to succeed term-limited incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster (R).
Mace (R-SC) announced her campaign Monday after weeks of sending strong signals that she intended to vie for her state’s governor’s mansion, vowing to usher in the state’s “Golden Age.”
Her formal campaign launch is set to take place at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, where she graduated in 1999 as the first female graduate from its Corps of Cadets.
Following her formal campaign debut, Mace is set to embark on what she has billed the “Mother of ALL Town Halls Tour,” starting in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, kicking off her barnstorming of the state.
The three-term congresswoman has served in the House since 2021, where she quickly rose to national prominence and made a name for herself as one of the more outspoken members of the Republican Party.
The South Carolina rep previously served in the state house from 2018–2020, after unsuccessfully challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during his 2014 reelection bid.
She now faces a growing field of candidates on the Republican side, including fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, state Attorney General Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Mace has already traded barbs with some of her competitors, namely Wilson, whom she publicly accused of ignoring evidence she presented alleging she suffered sexual abuse from her ex-fiance and others.
Wilson has called those claims “categorically false,” and Mace is facing a defamation suit over the accusations.
Some polling has pegged Mace as the frontrunner, but indicates that many South Carolinians do not have their minds made up yet. A Targoz Market Research poll, for example, found Mace with a slight lead, but also found over half of GOP primary voters were undecided.
Looming over the race will likely be whether President Trump makes a formal endorsement. At the start of her tenure in Congress, Mace criticized Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, though she later voted against impeaching him.
This prompted Trump to endorse former South Carolina Rep. Katie Arrington (R) during the 2022 midterm elections.
Last year, Mace endorsed Trump over her former home state Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential primary. Notably, her fellow congressional foe, Norman, backed Haley and was the only sitting House Republican besides Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) to do so.
Over recent years, Mace has drawn national attention for wading into the culture wars. Last year, for example, she crusaded to ensure that women’s facilities would be restricted to biological women after the election of Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender member of the House.
Back in 2023, she shocked observers by joining with a band of seven other hardcore conservatives led by former firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)
South Carolina is largely a Republican stronghold state, meaning the winner of the GOP primary is heavily favored to win the general election.
