On October 11, 2023, one week after voting to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Mace appeared in Congress wearing a red letter "A" T-shirt and said:

"I'm wearing the scarlet letter after the week I just had, being a woman up here, and being demonized for my vote and for my voice. I will do the right thing every single time, no matter the consequences."

The gesture drew broad media attention as an invocation of Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, made in the context of Mace being one of eight Republicans who voted to vacate the speakership.

Source: The Guardian · archived