An Independent Public RecordWednesday, June 17, 2026

MACEOPEDIA

The Public Record

← Back to Dispatches

Part of: January 6 & the Trump Relationship · 2026 Governor Campaign

Dispatch

'Ding dong the witch is gone': Nikki Haley's son toasts Mace's defeat, four years after his mother's ads helped save her seat

Minutes after Nancy Mace conceded her fifth-place finish in the June 9, 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nalin Haley, the son of former governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, quote-tweeted her concession with 'DING DONG THE WITCH IS GONE!,' then added 'Free at last, free at last.' The jab capped a four-year arc: in 2022 Nikki Haley cut TV ads calling Mace 'tough as nails' and 'a fighter' and helped her beat a Trump-backed primary challenger; in January 2024 Mace repaid her by endorsing Donald Trump over Haley, in Haley's home state, the day before the New Hampshire primary. The Haley camp had spent election day boosting Mace's rivals.

Split image of Nikki Haley (left) and Nancy Mace (right)
Photo: Mediaite. Source

At 8:53 p.m. on June 9, 2026, the night Nancy Mace finished fifth and last among the major candidates in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nalin Haley quote-tweeted Mace's concession and wrote five words:

"DING DONG THE WITCH IS GONE!", Nalin Haley (@Nalin_Haley), June 9, 2026

Five minutes later he replied to himself: "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last." The witch in question was Mace, and the post Nalin was dunking on was her own farewell, "Serving South Carolina has been the greatest honor of my life… I would choose [to speak up] every" time.

Nalin Haley's quote-tweet of Mace's concession post, the night of the primary. He is the son of former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. View the original post on X.

Nalin Haley, 24, is not a candidate or an officeholder; he is Nikki Haley's son and a prolific America First poster whose account, as FITSNews has put it, "is viewed by many political operatives as a window into what his mother is truly thinking, but may not want to say publicly." That makes the glee notable, because there was a time the Haley family was the reason Nancy Mace still had a career to lose.

2022: Haley went to bat for Mace

When Mace drew a primary challenge in 2022 from Katie Arrington, who carried Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement," and whom Trump rallied for while calling Mace "terrible" and "despised by almost everyone", it was Nikki Haley who stepped in on Mace's side. Haley, who lives in Mace's Lowcountry district, headlined a Charleston fundraiser, and cut television ads vouching for her. In the spots, as reported by Mediaite, Haley praised Mace as "tough as nails" and as "a fighter who stands up to Biden's reckless spending, punches back against lawless lockdowns and mandates, and is strong on border security."

It worked. Mace beat Arrington on June 14, 2022, surviving the Trump-backed challenge with Haley's name and money behind her.

2024: Mace endorsed Trump over Haley

Eighteen months later, with Haley running for president against Trump in her own home state, Mace chose Trump. On January 22, 2024, the day before the New Hampshire primary, Mace endorsed Donald Trump over Nikki Haley, declaring that "the time has come to unite behind our nominee" and that it had "been a complete shit show since [Trump] left the White House." (Maceopedia's dispatch on that endorsement is here.)

The optics were hard to miss: the woman who had cut ads to save Mace's seat was now being passed over, in her own backyard, for the man who had tried to end Mace's career two years earlier.

The years since: the feud the family never let go

The Haleys did not forget. In July 2025, as Mace prepared to launch her run for governor, Nalin Haley laced into her on X. As FITSNews reported, he accused her of having "agreed to endorse Nikki Haley until you got scared and backed out like a spineless coward," and called her "the most selfish person in office, a fraud, and an embarrassment to South Carolina who lacks the leadership skills needed to even be a manager at Waffle House." (FITSNews noted one swipe was simply wrong: Nalin claimed Mace had "voted to impeach" Trump; she did not.)

On primary day itself, Nalin was openly rooting for the field against her, posting "SOUTH CAROLINA! Go vote and let your voice be heard" and tagging Mace's rivals. Hours later, when the returns put Mace at the bottom of the pack, unable even to carry her own home county, he got the result he'd asked for, and the "ding dong" post was his victory lap.

There is no record of Nikki Haley herself weighing in on Mace's defeat. She did not have to. Her son's account did the talking, and on June 9 it said the relationship that began with "tough as nails" had ended, as far as the Haleys were concerned, with "the witch is gone."

Nalin Haley's posts are his own opinion, not statements of fact, and the characterizations above are his. The 2022 ad quotes are Nikki Haley's as reported by the outlets cited; the 2024 endorsement quote is Mace's own. Vote figures are as reported during the count; the certified canvass governs the official result.

Sources & related coverage:

'Ding dong the witch is gone': Nikki Haley's son toasts Mace's defeat, four years after his mother's ads helped save her seat: image 1
'Ding dong the witch is gone': Nikki Haley's son toasts Mace's defeat, four years after his mother's ads helped save her seat: image 2