"I'm leaving Congress because I can't get shit done": Mace explains exit in her own words

Rep. Nancy Mace told journalist Tara Palmeri on September 1, 2026 that she is leaving Congress because she "can't get shit done." The statement came in the middle of an extended discussion of Mace's frustration with the legislative process and her inability to advance bills protecting women and children through a Republican-controlled House.

The quote flowed directly from a larger passage in which Mace described the same passion for women's safety legislation that drove her into office as the source of her growing frustration. Palmeri had been pressing her on what seemed to drive her, and Mace pivoted to why that drive was no longer enough reason to stay.

Captioned clip from the Tara Palmeri Show, September 1, 2026. Watch the full interview on YouTube.

The exchange

The full verbatim passage, from the Tara Palmeri Show, September 1, 2026:

Mace: ...and I think it's a motivator why I just, I just go off the rails sometimes and people say it, oh, she's crazy. It's no, we have to go so far in this direction because you guys have taken us, being nice has gotten us off the rails. I'm just bringing back common sense. And so, it certainly drives my passion. It drives what I feel I've been called to do while I've been in Congress. And it's also why I'm leaving Congress, because I can't get shit done. You know, I, with some of the easiest bills to protect women and kids, we can't even get a markup, a hearing on, let alone a vote on the floor, let alone try to get it through the Senate.

Palmeri: So, Congresswoman Mace, would you call yourself a feminist?

The passage connects directly to the earlier part of the interview about her experience being assaulted at 16 and her motivation to legislate on behalf of other survivors. The frustration she describes is framed as structural, not personal.

Context

Mace lost the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary in June 2026 and is not seeking re-election to South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. She has served two terms since winning election in 2020.

Her stated reasoning for leaving combines the failure of the legislative process with a sense that her driving purpose, advocacy for women and children, could not be fulfilled within Congress's constraints. Immediately before the passage above, she had been describing how "women our own sex out there advocating for that kind of thing drives me even more insane" and that frustration was "a motivator why I just go off the rails sometimes."

Later in the same interview, Palmeri confirmed the scale of the problem: "You introduced 90 bills this Congress alone." Mace's response: "Uh... zero" of them became law.

Watch

The full Tara Palmeri Show interview is available on YouTube. The statement about leaving Congress begins at approximately 5:57:

Sources

• Tara Palmeri Show, "MACE ON BEING MACE," YouTube, September 1, 2026 (primary source; statement at 5:57)
• The Tara Palmeri Show: tarapalmeri.com