Part of: Mace Federal Removal (Berg v. Bryant → D.S.C.) · Berg v. Bryant (and Bryant's Third-Party Complaint against Mace) · Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg · Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG) · Nancy Mace's Gag Order Violations · 2026 Governor Campaign · Litigation Overview & Court-Filing Index
Under a gag order barring 'any comment about any aspect of this case,' Mace uses her televised concession speech to talk about 'predators that got away in my case'
On the night of June 9, 2026, after conceding the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nancy Mace told her Charleston election-night crowd, and a live television audience, that she had talked to Attorney General Alan Wilson 'about my case' and would help his administration ensure that 'predators that got away in my case … we finally put criminals behind bars.' Mace is a third-party defendant in Berg v. Bryant, where a November 26, 2025 gag order bars every party from 'making or publishing any comment about any aspect of this case' or about any party or person connected to it, and a January 12, 2026 civil-contempt motion over her earlier public statements remains pending. Both orders are reproduced in full below. Mace contends the gag order is unconstitutional; all underlying allegations are unproven and contested, and no court has ruled on the June 9 remarks.
On the night of June 9, 2026, Nancy Mace conceded the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary in a speech from her Charleston election-night party, carried live on South Carolina television and posted in full by News 19 WLTX, whose broadcast, including its analysts' panel before and after the speech, is embedded below. Endorsing Attorney General Alan Wilson in the runoff, Mace told the crowd she had talked to Wilson "about my case," described "predators that got away in my case," and said she would help his administration "finally put criminals behind bars."
Mace is a third-party defendant in Berg v. Bryant, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124 (Charleston County Court of Common Pleas), where she has been subject since November 26, 2025 to a gag order barring every party from "making or publishing any comment about any aspect of this case", an order a pending January 12, 2026 contempt motion already accuses her of violating, and one she has publicly attacked as unconstitutional. Her June 9 remarks are set out below, alongside both orders reproduced in full, with timecodes into the video.
News 19 WLTX's full upload of the concession coverage. Mace's remarks run from roughly 0:36 to 5:20; the surrounding segments are the station's election-night panel. All quotes below are verbatim from this video.
What she said from the stage
The June 9 speech came with that history already in motion: on January 12, 2026, a motion for an order to show cause and for civil contempt, directed at Mace's earlier public statements, was filed on the state docket, and it remains pending. These are the passages of the concession speech that touch the litigation, verbatim, with timecodes into the WLTX video.
At ~3:06, opening her remarks about the race:
"I want to have a moment to talk about tonight's race. This is a spiritual battle between good and between evil. This is a fight between those who protect predators amongst us and those that will fight against them and put them in jail."
At ~3:40, describing her conversations with Wilson, the man she had just endorsed for governor:
"Now, Alan Wilson and I have had our differences, but what many of you do not know is that over the last couple of weeks, Alan Wilson and I have buried the hatchet. We called it, we called it hashtag reset. And I talked to him about my case. I talked to him about my experiences in the broken justice system that is South Carolina, the system of injustice where people can murder, where they can sexually assault others, where predators walk amongst us, where they can leak evidence in a criminal case two days before an election to shame a survivor and the young woman she tried to help."
At ~4:47, announcing what comes next:
"And I accept Alan Wilson's offer and opportunity to help his administration ensure that predators that got away in my case, that got away in other cases in South Carolina, that we finally put criminals behind bars. And I will do everything in my power to work with Alan and to work with his administration in my capacity as a private citizen and ensure that he wins election resoundingly."
Earlier in the speech, at ~1:36, she revisited the themes of her final months in Congress: "I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that. As a survivor, I chose to stand on principle and stand against the Epstein cover-up. I chose to stand against child rapists. I chose to expose the names hidden in the sexual harassment slush fund. I chose to expose DEI judges. And I chose to expose the abusers of children."
The order she is under
On November 26, 2025, Judge Donald B. Hocker issued a gag order in Berg v. Bryant, sua sponte, on the court's own initiative, covering every party to the case. Mace is named in the caption as a third-party defendant. The four-page order, electronically filed on the Charleston County docket December 9, 2025, is reproduced here in full; the original PDF is available here.
Page 1, the caption names Nancy Ruth Mace as a third-party defendant; the Court issues the "Gag Order" sua sponte.
Page 2, "All of the above parties … are enjoined and restrained from: a. Making or publishing any comment about any aspect of this case …"
Page 3, prohibitions (b) and (c), the three-week initial duration extendable "by Order of this Court," and the Court's invitation of First Amendment briefing.
Page 4, "SO ORDERED. DONALD B. HOCKER, Date: 11-26-25."
The operative language enjoins and restrains all parties, their agents and representatives, and their attorneys from:
"a. Making or publishing any comment about any aspect of this case (other than Attorney/Client) via oral, written, social media, text or any other forms of communication;
b. Making or publishing any comment about any party or attorney to this case or anyone connected to this case to any person, entity or otherwise (other than Attorney/Client) via oral, written, social media, text or any other forms of communication;
c. Publishing, transmitting, posting or sharing any documents, videos, photographs or any other materials related to any aspect of this case and/or party and/or attorney and/or any person connected to this case to any person, entity, or otherwise (other than Attorney/Client)."
On January 9, 2026, Judge Hocker signed a three-page Supplemental Gag Order (filed January 13, 2026), reproduced here in full; the original PDF is available here. It carved out exactly three things the gag order does not restrict:
"a. Communications with law enforcement, local, state or federal agencies, including Solicitor's and Attorney General Offices with respect to active criminal investigations;
b. Legislative bodies (federal and state) with respect to active criminal investigations;
c. Statements or disclosures required by Court Order, subpoena, or any other lawful process."
And it closed with this sentence:
"The original Order and this Supplemental Order shall remain in full force and effect unless changed by a future Court Order."
Supplemental Gag Order, page 1, "This Order supplements the Gag Order this Court issued on November 26, 2025."
Page 2, the three carve-outs, and "[t]he original Order and this Supplemental Order shall remain in full force and effect unless changed by a future Court Order." Signed January 9, 2026.
Page 3, the electronic signature page, s/Donald B. Hocker, electronically signed January 13, 2026.
Where this lands
The two orders, by their own terms, remain "in full force and effect unless changed by a future Court Order," and the supplemental order's carve-outs reach private communications to law enforcement, agencies, and legislatures about active criminal investigations, and disclosures compelled by court process. Whether any statement in a televised concession speech falls inside or outside those lines is a question only a court can answer, and none has.
Mace's position on the order itself is on the public record and emphatic: in a January 21, 2026 letter to Judge Hocker, she called the gag order "overly broad, unconstitutional, and unenforceable," declared "I will not be SILENCED," and announced she was removing the contempt proceeding to federal court. Her counsel's filings argue the order is an overbroad prior restraint that fails First Amendment scrutiny. The removal she initiated in late January 2026 (D.S.C. Nos. 2:26-cv-00305 and 2:26-cv-00306) left even the forum for the contempt question in dispute through the spring.
The underlying dispute is the subject of ongoing civil litigation in Berg v. Bryant (Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124) and related actions, the federal removal proceedings, and a separate South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigation. All allegations on every side remain unproven and contested: Mace denies Bryant's claims; Bryant and the other named parties deny Mace's allegations; no underlying matter has been adjudicated, and no court has ruled that the June 9 speech violated any order. Nothing here is a finding of fact. For background on the parties see People in the Public Record.
Sources & related coverage:
- The full speech: Nancy Mace thanks supporters in Charleston as she concedes, News 19 WLTX (YouTube), posted June 10, 2026. All speech quotes above are verbatim from this video.
- The gag order itself: Gag Order, Berg v. Bryant (PDF, 4 pages), signed by Judge Donald B. Hocker November 26, 2025, electronically filed December 9, 2025, Charleston County Court of Common Pleas No. 2025-CP-10-03124.
- The supplemental order: Supplemental Gag Order, Berg v. Bryant (PDF, 3 pages), signed January 9, 2026, electronically filed January 13, 2026.
- The January 12, 2026 Motion for Order to Show Cause / Motion for Civil Contempt and the rest of the state docket are verifiable on the SC Judicial Branch Public Index (Charleston County) under Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124.
- Related: Mace's January 21, 2026 letter calling the court a "Kangaroo Court" · The Litigation
