Nancy Mace was telling her story again. The 15-minute version, sized for easy delivery at a campaign event.
“I just never thought I’d be where I am today,” the South Carolina congresswoman told an audience of potential voters at a meeting hall just outside Charleston. She told them she dropped out of high school after being traumatized by rape at age 16. She worked a few months at Waffle House, eventually finished her high school degree at a local technical college and went to The Citadel, her father’s alma mater, becoming the first woman to graduate. Two years ago, she flipped a House seat by beating a Democrat in the Lowcountry.
Mace, who is seeking reelection, left out the part of her story that had launched her as a new face on the cable news circuit: After she voted to certify President Biden’s 2020 election win, Donald Trump embarked on a public crusade to deep-six her fledgling political career.
“A lot of conservatives are upset,” said the host, Adam Curran, alluding to her vote.
“We have to follow the Constitution,” Mace replied, “even when we don’t like who’s in charge or who won the election.”
Mace made a point of describing herself as a devotee of Trump’s “America First” agenda.
In the crowd, John Ward folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “The audacity!” Ward, a cybersecurity specialist, said afterward. “What did she do to Trump the moment she got elected? Completely backstabbed him!”
If Mace wins Tuesday’s primary, “I will not vote for her again,” he said. “She has no integrity!”
There is a species of Republican whose transgressions against Trump have rendered them — is there any other way to say it? — persona non MAGA. The former president is backing Mace’s challenger, Katie Arrington, who wastes no opportunity to pay homage to Trump and who, along with her allies, seems determined to cast Mace as the second coming of George McGovern. (“A WOKE LIBERAL,” says the headline of an anti-Mace mailer, sent by a political action committee called Drain the DC Swamp.)
By all appearances, these barbs are not about conservative beliefs. Mace supports low taxes and building Trump’s border wall. Assessing her votes and legislation she has co-sponsored, the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action for America gives Mace a 93 out of 100. Rather, it seems to be about the meaning of integrity in today’s Republican Party, and the extent to which it is defined by one’s fealty to Trump.
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The battleground is the 1st Congressional District, a swath of coastal South Carolina that includes Charleston, which Biden won, and deep-red counties to the north and south. Mace has raised $4.1 million, far more than Arrington. Yet local Republican leaders expect a closer finish than the candidates’ financial muscle might suggest.
“There’s a group of Republican voters, the hardcore conservatives and activists who will never forgive her,” Will Folks, a former adviser to Republican Mark Sanford who edits a statewide news website, says of Mace. “That chunk of the electorate makes Katie Arrington viable.”
The story Nancy Mace tells about herself is about overcoming challenges that might have overwhelmed someone less resilient. Her reelection campaign reflects a broader question in Republican politics: Once you cross Trump, does the rest of your story even matter anymore?
On a Monday night in late May, Karen Walto, a retiree, was still thinking about who to support as she arrived at a Charleston high school to watch the Republican candidates debate. While she questioned “if Mace is here for the conservatives,” Walto said that the congresswoman “knows the job” and that Republicans would back her if she’s the nominee.
Trump’s opposition to Mace, Walto said, is not part of her calculation: “He was a great president, but he’s too divisive. Too many people hate him. I’m done with Trump.”
Edwin Taylor, who also attended the debate, has not moved on from Trump. Two years ago, when Mace first ran for Congress, Taylor, a real estate agent, gave her campaign $2,500 because he thought she was a “great conservative” and expected “we could depend on her to support Trump.”
After Mace criticized Trump, he got a refund.
“She should’ve kept her mouth shut,” he said in an interview. “Once you break that trust with me, it’s done. You don’t talk about your family like that.”
Here at the debate, Taylor witnessed something more like a family food fight. After the candidates took their places, the moderator asked the audience to refrain from outbursts or cheering. Their good behavior ended after the first question, when Lynz Piper-Loomis, another Republican in the race, endorsed Arrington and walked off the stage.
“Kat-ie! Kat-ie! Kat-ie!” Arrington’s supporters chanted, pumping their fists.
“How does it feel?” retiree Mark Eutsler shouted from his seat at Mace, who gazed ahead, her jaw taut.
For the next hour, Arrington portrayed Mace as a Trump sellout who has focused on supposedly trivial concerns such as saving pandas, legalizing pot and freeing Britney Spears. And, of course, this: “She turned her back on us, and then she turned her back on President Trump.”
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Mace countered that she seeks bipartisan compromises “to get things done.” On the panda thing, she invoked Trump, saying he was “one of the greatest presidents of all time in protecting animal rights.” Mace also reminded the audience that Arrington lost in a general election in 2018, wielding that bit of history as a barb: “I’m the only candidate up here who knows how to beat a Democrat.”
“Save the pandas!” someone called from the audience, mockingly.
Things did not get any more civil from there. As the two candidates delivered closing statements, their supporters shouted over them and at one another.
“I wasn’t the one who had my top-secret security clearance suspended,” Mace said at one point, her voice rising. (Arrington, a former Pentagon employee, reportedly had her clearance suspended pending an investigation into whether she disclosed classified information, which she has denied doing.)
“Everything she said is a lie,” Arrington responded.
“You’re a liar!” someone yelled from the audience.
“I’m the Trump-endorsed ‘America First’ candidate,” Arrington continued.
“THAT’S ALL YOU ARE!” shouted Dan Henderson, 64, a developer who’s supporting Mace.
“You’re a jackass!” Michael Novielli, 57, who runs a hedge fund, yelled at Henderson.
“Kat-ie! Kat-ie! Kat-ie!” the crowd chanted as the debate ended.
As she departed, Stacie Arcomona, 51, a school administrator, said she “can live with Nancy” — though not happily, saying, “She just wants to be on CNN and increase her brand.”
And Arrington?
“She acts like a toddler. I hate my choices — I totally hate my choices!”
“I just never thought I’d be where I am today,” the South Carolina congresswoman told an audience of potential voters at a meeting hall just outside Charleston. She told them she dropped out of high school after being traumatized by rape at age 16. She worked a few months at Waffle House, eventually finished her high school degree at a local technical college and went to The Citadel, her father’s alma mater, becoming the first woman to graduate. Two years ago, she flipped a House seat by beating a Democrat in the Lowcountry.
Mace, who is seeking reelection, left out the part of her story that had launched her as a new face on the cable news circuit: After she voted to certify President Biden’s 2020 election win, Donald Trump embarked on a public crusade to deep-six her fledgling political career.
“A lot of conservatives are upset,” said the host, Adam Curran, alluding to her vote.
“We have to follow the Constitution,” Mace replied, “even when we don’t like who’s in charge or who won the election.”
Mace made a point of describing herself as a devotee of Trump’s “America First” agenda.
In the crowd, John Ward folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “The audacity!” Ward, a cybersecurity specialist, said afterward. “What did she do to Trump the moment she got elected? Completely backstabbed him!”
If Mace wins Tuesday’s primary, “I will not vote for her again,” he said. “She has no integrity!”
There is a species of Republican whose transgressions against Trump have rendered them — is there any other way to say it? — persona non MAGA. The former president is backing Mace’s challenger, Katie Arrington, who wastes no opportunity to pay homage to Trump and who, along with her allies, seems determined to cast Mace as the second coming of George McGovern. (“A WOKE LIBERAL,” says the headline of an anti-Mace mailer, sent by a political action committee called Drain the DC Swamp.)
By all appearances, these barbs are not about conservative beliefs. Mace supports low taxes and building Trump’s border wall. Assessing her votes and legislation she has co-sponsored, the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action for America gives Mace a 93 out of 100. Rather, it seems to be about the meaning of integrity in today’s Republican Party, and the extent to which it is defined by one’s fealty to Trump.
From 2021: Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger accepts his fate, whatever it is
The battleground is the 1st Congressional District, a swath of coastal South Carolina that includes Charleston, which Biden won, and deep-red counties to the north and south. Mace has raised $4.1 million, far more than Arrington. Yet local Republican leaders expect a closer finish than the candidates’ financial muscle might suggest.
“There’s a group of Republican voters, the hardcore conservatives and activists who will never forgive her,” Will Folks, a former adviser to Republican Mark Sanford who edits a statewide news website, says of Mace. “That chunk of the electorate makes Katie Arrington viable.”
The story Nancy Mace tells about herself is about overcoming challenges that might have overwhelmed someone less resilient. Her reelection campaign reflects a broader question in Republican politics: Once you cross Trump, does the rest of your story even matter anymore?
On a Monday night in late May, Karen Walto, a retiree, was still thinking about who to support as she arrived at a Charleston high school to watch the Republican candidates debate. While she questioned “if Mace is here for the conservatives,” Walto said that the congresswoman “knows the job” and that Republicans would back her if she’s the nominee.
Trump’s opposition to Mace, Walto said, is not part of her calculation: “He was a great president, but he’s too divisive. Too many people hate him. I’m done with Trump.”
Edwin Taylor, who also attended the debate, has not moved on from Trump. Two years ago, when Mace first ran for Congress, Taylor, a real estate agent, gave her campaign $2,500 because he thought she was a “great conservative” and expected “we could depend on her to support Trump.”
After Mace criticized Trump, he got a refund.
“She should’ve kept her mouth shut,” he said in an interview. “Once you break that trust with me, it’s done. You don’t talk about your family like that.”
Here at the debate, Taylor witnessed something more like a family food fight. After the candidates took their places, the moderator asked the audience to refrain from outbursts or cheering. Their good behavior ended after the first question, when Lynz Piper-Loomis, another Republican in the race, endorsed Arrington and walked off the stage.
“Kat-ie! Kat-ie! Kat-ie!” Arrington’s supporters chanted, pumping their fists.
“How does it feel?” retiree Mark Eutsler shouted from his seat at Mace, who gazed ahead, her jaw taut.
For the next hour, Arrington portrayed Mace as a Trump sellout who has focused on supposedly trivial concerns such as saving pandas, legalizing pot and freeing Britney Spears. And, of course, this: “She turned her back on us, and then she turned her back on President Trump.”
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Mace countered that she seeks bipartisan compromises “to get things done.” On the panda thing, she invoked Trump, saying he was “one of the greatest presidents of all time in protecting animal rights.” Mace also reminded the audience that Arrington lost in a general election in 2018, wielding that bit of history as a barb: “I’m the only candidate up here who knows how to beat a Democrat.”
“Save the pandas!” someone called from the audience, mockingly.
Things did not get any more civil from there. As the two candidates delivered closing statements, their supporters shouted over them and at one another.
“I wasn’t the one who had my top-secret security clearance suspended,” Mace said at one point, her voice rising. (Arrington, a former Pentagon employee, reportedly had her clearance suspended pending an investigation into whether she disclosed classified information, which she has denied doing.)
“Everything she said is a lie,” Arrington responded.
“You’re a liar!” someone yelled from the audience.
“I’m the Trump-endorsed ‘America First’ candidate,” Arrington continued.
“THAT’S ALL YOU ARE!” shouted Dan Henderson, 64, a developer who’s supporting Mace.
“You’re a jackass!” Michael Novielli, 57, who runs a hedge fund, yelled at Henderson.
“Kat-ie! Kat-ie! Kat-ie!” the crowd chanted as the debate ended.
As she departed, Stacie Arcomona, 51, a school administrator, said she “can live with Nancy” — though not happily, saying, “She just wants to be on CNN and increase her brand.”
And Arrington?
“She acts like a toddler. I hate my choices — I totally hate my choices!”