South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a prominent Republican and current gubernatorial candidate, has found herself at the center of a political storm as rumors about her potential early retirement from Congress swirl, even as she faces mounting controversies at home and in Washington, D.C. The drama—spanning alleged airport altercations, campaign shake-ups, and heated public disputes—has thrust Mace into the spotlight just as the race for South Carolina's governorship gains momentum.
In recent months, Mace’s name has been splashed across headlines for reasons that go far beyond her legislative work. According to reporting by Audacy, she was involved in a contentious incident at Charleston airport, a situation that quickly became fodder for political opponents and online commentators. The turbulence didn’t end there: Mace and her campaign consultant, J Austin McCubbin, parted ways in a messy and very public fashion, raising questions about the stability of her campaign team and her temperament as a leader. These incidents prompted a daily poll on December 3, 2025, asking South Carolinians whether they considered Mace too “messy or ill-tempered” to serve as governor—a question that encapsulates the swirling doubts about her candidacy.
Yet, the controversies at home have been matched—if not exceeded—by political drama in Washington. On December 4, 2025, The New York Times reported that Mace was so frustrated with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership style—described as sexist by some—that she was contemplating early retirement from Congress. The Times claimed that Mace was “planning to huddle” with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who herself had announced plans to leave Congress early in 2026, to discuss following Greene’s path out of the House. “I stand with Elise,” Mace reportedly told the Times, referencing Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has also feuded with Speaker Johnson.
But Mace has been anything but clear about her intentions. Publicly, she has poured cold water on the retirement rumors, dismissing them as “nonsense” on her social media account. In a strongly worded post on X, she declared, “Retiring is a BIG FAT NO from me - not sure why the internet is running with this like wildfire - for the clicks I suppose.” She continued, “Media catches one tiny piece of an overheard conversation and loses it. Confirmed: There’s frustration that discharge petitions are the only way to move things through the House. Confirmed: There’s frustration we haven’t codified Trump’s Executive Orders. We did Gulf of America. Cool. Look at Elise Stefanik or Anna Paulina Luna comments this week. Not confirmed: That anyone is retiring. Goodness. And God bless!” (as reported by Fox News Digital).
Despite her denials, Mace has not directly refuted the Times' assertion that she would meet with Greene to discuss her future. Instead, she has focused on expressing her deep dissatisfaction with the pace and priorities of Congress. “I loathe how slow Congress moves,” she wrote on X. “I loathe we haven’t delivered on President Trump’s agenda. I loathe serious lawmakers aren’t taken seriously. I loathe the press making stories up. I loathe the politics of lies. Nowhere did I say I was retiring. Internet is wild. So too are my opponents spreading this nonsense.”
The fallout from these reports has been swift and fierce. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a rival in the 2026 gubernatorial race, seized on the rumors, accusing Mace of abandoning her responsibilities at a critical moment for the Republican Party. “Nancy Mace says she ‘never backs down from a fight’, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Wilson wrote on X. “She’s again abandoning President Trump this time when he needs every single vote to advance his America First agenda and stop Democrats. When the stakes are high, South Carolina deserves leaders who show up and stand firm, but she only cares about herself.” Wilson’s comments underscore the deepening rift between Mace and the MAGA base, a divide that began when she opposed former President Trump on the release of records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The rivalry between Mace and Wilson is nothing new. As FITSNews notes, the two have been at odds since Mace criticized Wilson for failing to prosecute men who attack women and for allegedly protecting pedophiles. Their personal feud has spilled into the broader gubernatorial contest, where Wilson now appears to be surging in the polls while Mace’s support has waned. The race has drawn a crowded field, with nearly half a dozen candidates already vying for Mace’s congressional seat ahead of the June 2026 partisan primaries. State Representative Marvin “Mark” Smith, Dorchester County Councilman Jay Byars, retired USAF Colonel Alex Pelbath, physician and entrepreneur Sam McCown, and Jenny Costa Honeycutt—considered one of the strongest GOP candidates—have all thrown their hats into the ring, signaling a new era of competition in South Carolina’s first congressional district.
Meanwhile, the political intrigue in Washington continues to follow Mace. Sources cited by FITSNews suggest that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is closely monitoring Mace’s plummeting poll numbers and may be seeking political retribution for her pivotal October 2023 vote to oust him as GOP leader. “He’s thinking now might be the right time to settle that score,” one insider told the outlet, hinting at more drama to come in the months ahead.
Despite the chaos, Mace has attempted to position herself as a reformer frustrated by the inertia of Congress and the self-serving behavior of her colleagues. On December 4, 2025, she signed a discharge petition to ban stock trading by members of Congress, arguing that “members of Congress shouldn’t line their pockets with insider trading.” She has repeatedly voiced her exasperation with the slow progress on codifying Trump’s executive orders and the reliance on discharge petitions to move legislation forward. “Why does something so easy ethically and morally to support, take forcing it down the throats of leadership when it’s just common sense?” she posted on X, emphasizing her impatience with business as usual on Capitol Hill.
Still, questions linger about Mace’s political future. Will she stay the course in Congress, or will ongoing controversies and intra-party rivalries push her toward an early exit? How will her high-profile disputes with party leaders and her own campaign staff affect her chances in the gubernatorial race? And could her decisions ultimately shift the balance of power in both South Carolina and Washington, D.C.? For now, Mace remains defiant, insisting she’s not going anywhere. But as the 2026 election season heats up, all eyes will be on her next move—and on the increasingly crowded field vying to replace her.
With so many variables in play, the coming months promise more twists and turns in the saga of Nancy Mace—a politician whose career has become a lightning rod for controversy, ambition, and the ever-shifting tides of American politics.
