Tempers flared and headlines blazed in South Carolina politics this week as new details emerged about Rep. Nancy Mace’s profanity-laden confrontation with law enforcement at Charleston International Airport. The incident, which took place on October 30, 2025, has ignited a firestorm in the state’s gubernatorial race, pitting Mace against State Attorney General Alan Wilson in a contest already fraught with tension, accusations, and a fierce battle for conservative credentials.
According to investigative reports obtained by The Post and corroborated by WIRED, the trouble began when a planned VIP police escort for Mace’s outbound flight fell through due to a miscommunication about the color of her car. Officers with the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department, expecting a different vehicle, never met her as planned. Instead, Mace was found waiting at an entrance intended for flight crew members—a breach of standard protocol—where she reportedly began “loudly cursing and making derogatory comments.” Multiple officers and TSA agents interviewed for the internal probe described Mace as calling police officers “f--king idiots” and “f--king incompetent,” and declaring, “this is no way to treat a f--king U.S. Representative.”
Despite the high drama, the airport was “not busy at all” that morning, one officer noted in the report. A veteran TSA officer, who had served at the airport for 23 years, told investigators, “Every VIP or whomever, dignitary, that we’ve been across and had to deal with, we never, never had this problem.” The report, released via a public records request, painted a picture of a lawmaker whose frustration boiled over into a spectacle that left airport staff and law enforcement rattled.
This was not the first time Rep. Mace had clashed with airport security. The same internal investigation revealed an earlier incident in April 2025, when Mace allegedly erupted at agents who refused to let her bring a family member through expedited security. TSA later permitted her to take family members with her after screening, but the episode left a sour taste. “This is the only airport that gives me s--t,” Mace reportedly complained, echoing her October outburst.
State Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is locked in a heated Republican primary battle with Mace for the governor’s mansion, seized on the controversy. In an interview with The Post, Wilson did not mince words: “I thought that the way she acted showed a sense of entitlement – [that] she is entitled to special protection, she is entitled to special treatment. When she doesn’t get special treatment, she throws a tantrum. To me that harkens back to a child not getting their way.” He added, “These are public servants, not personal servants.” Wilson went further, labeling Mace a “spoiled brat” who treats cops like “servants.”
Mace, for her part, has pushed back hard. In an interview with CNN this week, she dismissed the investigative report as “falsified,” though she did not provide evidence to support the claim. On social media, she fired back at Wilson’s “brat” remark, writing: “Imagine being ‘Attorney General’ and flying 500 miles for the sole purpose of dismissing death threats against a single mom.” Mace has stated that she has received numerous credible death threats, and on December 12, 2025, a judge reportedly denied bond to a man accused of making online threats against her.
The controversy has spilled into national media. Conservative journalist Maria Bartiromo pressed Mace about the airport incident during a Fox News interview on December 12. Rather than addressing the specifics, Mace pivoted to broader themes of political violence and persecution, saying, “We have to take our security very seriously. If you’re conservative, if you’re well known, if you have fought the transgender community exponentially like I have, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s public assassination — the death threats, the amount of political violence, the celebration of the killing of conservatives is deeply disturbing.” Bartiromo, not satisfied with the deflection, pressed further, asking if Mace was suing the airport or American Airlines. Mace replied that she had “drafted that suit,” but as of yet, no lawsuit has been filed.
Mace also insisted during the interview that she “didn’t call anybody names, that was falsified in the police report,” despite the fact that multiple airport staffers confirmed her use of foul language. The Washington Post, reporting on the outcome of the police investigation on December 8, noted that the internal review found Mace at fault, concluding that her “continued failure to follow established procedures at the checkpoint is what turned a minor miscommunication over the color of a vehicle into the spectacle that this issue has become for our employees and airport workers.”
The October airport episode is just the latest in a string of public confrontations involving Mace. In April 2025, she had a heated exchange at an Ulta store in South Carolina after a man asked, “When are you gonna host a real town hall for the people?” Mace claimed the man was harassing her and pointedly told him she “voted for gay marriage twice.” That same month, she drew criticism for using the t-slur four times during a speech to the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, further fueling accusations of transphobia from some corners of the political spectrum.
Amid the uproar, Mace’s political standing has faced challenges from within her own camp. On December 1, 2025, Austin McCubbin, a consultant to her campaign, resigned, accusing Mace of turning her back on the MAGA movement and trying to “hug the political cactus that is the [Sen.] Rand Paul [and Rep.] Thomas Massie wing of the Party.” This internal dissent, coupled with Mace’s own high-profile criticisms of House Republican leadership in a recent Washington Post op-ed, has left her campaign fighting on multiple fronts.
Adding yet another layer to the political drama, Mace has repeatedly expressed her desire for former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, famously describing herself as “Trump in high heels” back in August 2025. Yet, as of now, Trump has withheld his support from all candidates in the South Carolina governor’s race, leaving both Mace and Wilson vying for the former president’s favor—and the loyalty of the state’s conservative base.
It’s worth noting that the October 30 incident unfolded against the backdrop of a government shutdown, with TSA agents not being fully paid at the time—a detail cited by WIRED that may have added to the overall stress and frustration in the airport environment. Still, the internal investigation made clear that Mace’s actions, not external factors, were the primary cause of the uproar.
As the South Carolina gubernatorial race heats up, the airport meltdown and its aftermath have become more than just a campaign sideshow. The episode has exposed deep divisions within the state’s Republican ranks, raised questions about the conduct and temperament of those seeking higher office, and underscored the volatility of modern American politics—where a single outburst can reverberate far beyond the airport gates.
With new revelations still surfacing and neither side backing down, the fallout from Charleston International Airport is likely to remain a defining issue in the race for South Carolina’s highest office.
