Nancy Mace stays close to Trump ahead of tough primary fight

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Three years ago, Rep. Nancy Mace criticized Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and called on her party to “start over.”

Now, she’s backing Trump — and angling for the former president’s support ahead of her next primary race in June.

It’s been a long journey for the second-term House member, who has cast herself as an outsider willing to take on her own party. Her allies describe her as a maverick; her detractors say she lacks political principles. Mace does often find herself in conflicts with party leaders, from Trump in the last election cycle, when he endorsed a primary opponent after her Jan. 6 criticism, to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this time, after Mace helped oust him from the speakership in 2023.

And while Trump’s presidential primary contest with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the main event right now, Mace is preparing for her next intraparty fight, with South Carolina Republicans keeping a close eye on the contest.

“I don’t agree with everyone 100% of the time, on 100% of the things,” Mace told reporters after appearing at a Trump campaign event in North Charleston on Wednesday night. “I represent, again, a very independent-minded district. But look, if Donald Trump and Snoop Dogg can reconcile, so can he and I. And we’ve come a long way.”

Trump used that same phrase — “we’ve come a long way” — when he gave Mace a brief shoutout at his South Carolina rally last week, where Mace also spoke.

The GOP lawmaker from the Charleston-based 1st Congressional District went from Trump 2016 campaign staffer to outspoken Trump critic and a flame-throwing thorn in the side of her own party since she was elected to Congress in 2020.

Just two years ago, Trump endorsed Mace’s primary challenger, Katie Arrington. Mace went on to beat Arrington by 8 points, one of the few Republicans to survive a direct challenge from the former president.

She is once again facing challenges from the right, but this time it’s McCarthy, not Trump, looking for revenge. Mace calls one of her GOP opponents McCarthy’s hand-picked “puppet” to push her from her seat.

Catherine Templeton, an attorney who served in two positions in Haley’s gubernatorial Cabinet, launched a race against Mace earlier this month. She met with McCarthy aide Brian Walsh prior to her launch, but she pushed back on Mace’s criticisms, saying the congresswoman is “stabbing at things.”

“There’s not anybody here that thinks that I’m under anybody else’s influence,” Templeton told NBC News in a recent phone interview. Templeton said she has not met directly with McCarthy and does not know what role the former speaker could play in the race.

Templeton said she ultimately jumped in the race because the district needed a “consistent conservative,” accusing Mace of shifting stances on Trump, abortion and immigration.

“Nancy’s a party of one at this point,” Templeton said. “Decisions seem to be made based on flip-flopping for her own fame and her own celebrity, and not really remotely about what the constituency wants.”

“I have literally, from day one, run on being a party of one,” Mace countered in an interview with NBC News. “I’ve run on being an independent voice. That has been my mantra from day one. Because this district is independent-minded. … Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t understand the district.”

Mace pointed to Templeton’s abortion stance as out of step with the district, after she said in a failed 2018 gubernatorial bid that she favored banning abortions without exceptions for rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. If Templeton were to best Mace in the primary, Mace said, “then [Republicans] lose the seat because of her extreme positions that don’t fall in line with the district.”

Templeton did say in the phone interview that she supports South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions for a patient’s life, fetal anomalies and rape or incest for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. She also took issue with Mace saying the 1st District, which Trump won by 9 points in 2020 per calculations from Daily Kos Elections, could be in play in November.

“It’s just false. And the Republican Party is tired of compromising its conservative values because she keeps saying it’s a purple district,” Templeton said. “It just simply, mathematically, is not a purple district.”

As for McCarthy, Mace posits, “I was getting primaries the minute I voted to oust Kevin.”

But McCarthy is a prolific fundraiser and could create headaches for Mace ahead of her June primary if he directs donors to her challenger. Joel Sawyer, a South Carolina GOP strategist, said that threat helps explain Mace’s shift back to Trump.

“You certainly don’t want everybody against you,” Sawyer said. “So I think for Congresswoman Mace, the calculation is either you make nice with the party’s presumptive nominee or you make nice with Kevin McCarthy. I think making nice with Trump was probably an easier and more realistic path for her.”

Trump tightrope

Mace has been a frequent presence at Trump campaign events ahead of Saturday’s presidential primary, which Trump is favored to win. She received a mixed response from Trump supporters when she addressed his rally last week, but tried to win them over with a few references to Waffle House, where Mace worked after she dropped out of high school.

Templeton was also at the Trump rally, fresh off of her campaign launch where she touted support from Arrington and former Ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, a longtime Trump ally in the Palmetto State.

Templeton said she spoke briefly with Trump but did not ask for his endorsement in the race, noting the focus on Saturday’s primary. Templeton said she had met with Trump after he was elected in 2016 and was a contender to be his labor secretary. She said she was offered the position, but declined to join the administration because her children were still in school.

Prior to Trump winning the 2016 GOP nomination, Templeton backed his rival, Jeb Bush. It’s what’s prompting Mace to dub her “Jeb Bush in heels.”

Asked if she’s sought Trump’s endorsement, Mace said she was focused on seeing him through the upcoming South Carolina primary.

“There’s plenty of time to ask for endorsements,” she parried, adding broadly that Trump’s endorsement “means more today than it has ever meant.”

Mace’s road back to Trump has forced some tough choices, including the choice to back Trump over Haley. Templeton made the same choice, picking Trump over her former boss after initially endorsing Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Templeton said Trump has proven he can do the job and that “this is not a time to gamble.”

But Mace’s decision might have cut deeper, in part because Haley broke with Trump to help Mace win her tough primary battle in 2022.

Former state GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, a Haley supporter, said Mace “was almost a goner till Nikki showed up last time.”

Mace reached out to Haley when she endorsed Trump, a source familiar told NBC News at the time. Since then, Mace has appeared at various pro-Trump events to bash Haley’s record on taxes and foreign policy — an about-face not lost on Haley, who is herself a voter in Mace’s district.

“I’ll have to decide,” Haley said when asked about how she’d vote in the congressional primary, with a certain edge in her tone when asked about Mace. “Catherine Templeton served in my Cabinet when I was governor. And Nancy Mace is my current congressional member. I mean, I think I’m going to look at their views and look at seeing if they’re honest and trustworthy.”

Asked specifically about Mace’s about-face on Trump, Haley replied: “I’ve seen her say things on television that she knows are a lie. I mean I’ve point-blank seen it.”

That criticism of Mace — a politico who panders to the cameras — is widespread among her critics.

“I think she has a reputation, not just nationally but certainly in district, as somebody more interested in being on Fox than she is in being a congresswoman,” said South Carolina GOP strategist Chip Felkel.

Barbara Nielsen, a former state superintendent of education who lives in Mace’s district, told NBC News: “You never know where Nancy is from day to day. Most people here feel [Mace does] whatever benefits Nancy and what will get her on TV.”

“The men can do it,” Mace fired back when asked about these criticisms, citing Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott as South Carolina officials with national profiles — and TV appearances to match. “As soon as a woman does it, it’s different.”

She added that “when you’re leading on policy,” people ask for interviews. “I turn down more interviews than I actually do.”

Mace ally Josh Whitley, a member of the Berkeley County Council, echoed that, saying Mace “works extremely hard for our district” and has helped move several stalled local projects forward, including projects involving a waterway and bridge construction.

Nielsen noted Templeton “will be a formidable opponent.” But Mace could face other challengers too.

State Rep. Sylleste Davis told The Post and Courier that she has been asked to run. Davis did not return multiple requests for comment. And Mace’s former chief of staff, Daniel Hanlon, had also filed to run against Mace.

“You could do a reality show out of this,” Nielsen said.