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3 Times Nancy Mace Went Against Trump

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3 Times Nancy Mace Went Against Trump

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC-01, has spent most of her career aligned with President Trump. She calls herself "Trump in high heels." That alignment is exactly what makes the exceptions notable, because they are departures from her own brand and not from a record of opposition.

At a handful of pivotal moments she has broken with the president publicly and on the record. Here are three of the most documented, each in her own words. (For context on where she stands now: she ran for South Carolina governor in 2026 and lost the June 9, 2026 Republican primary, finishing fifth. She is not currently on a ballot.)

1. January 2021: she certified the election and said his legacy was "wiped out"

On January 6 and 7, 2021, the House rejected Republican objections to the Electoral College count. The Arizona objection failed 121 to 303 on January 6, and the Pennsylvania objection failed 138 to 282 on January 7. Mace voted to certify Joe Biden's win. She was the only member of South Carolina's House Republican delegation who did not join an objection.

In an op-ed the day of the riot she wrote: "Today, I will solemnly cast my vote to certify the results of the Electoral College." Her stated position was that Congress lacks the authority to overturn the Electoral College.

Live on CBS from her locked-down Cannon office on January 6, 2021, she said: "I'm begging the president to get off Twitter and to get on TV to calm these people down, to ask them to follow the rule of law and to ask them to go home. This is urgent."

On CNN on January 7, 2021, she said Trump's "entire legacy was wiped out yesterday," and that the riot happened because "millions of people across the country were misled by Republicans and by the administration that members of Congress could overturn and usurp the Electoral College in a single vote," which she called "simply not true." She said the responsibility ran "from the president on down to my colleagues here in Congress."

On Fox News with Neil Cavuto on January 13, 2021, asked whether Trump had a future in the GOP, she answered: "I do not." She added: "I don't know how you go forward and defend the indefensible," and said the party's principles would have to be carried forward "without his support, his brand or his name" because "it's tarnished."

The record on that break is not one-sided, and it matters that it is stated fully. That same day, January 13, 2021, Mace voted against the second impeachment of Trump. She cited the rushed process and the lack of a Judiciary Committee referral, while saying that she held him accountable for the events of January 6. In other words, she condemned him in public but did not vote to impeach him.

Nancy Mace on CNN, January 7, 2021: His entire legacy was wiped out yesterday.

Nancy Mace on CNN, January 7, 2021.

Nancy Mace on Fox News, January 13, 2021: I don't know how you go forward and defend the indefensible.

Nancy Mace on Fox News with Neil Cavuto, January 13, 2021.

2. 2025 to 2026: the Epstein files, and the endorsement it cost her

On September 2, 2025, Mace signed Discharge Petition No. 9 (for H.Res. 581 in the 119th Congress) to force a House vote releasing the Epstein files. She was one of only four Republicans to sign, alongside Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is listed as a signer on the official U.S. House Clerk record, dated September 2, 2025.

In November 2025, reporting from Axios, The New York Times, and Newsweek described Trump's team pressuring Mace and Boebert to withdraw their signatures. Neither did. Trump publicly called the matter a "hoax."

On November 18, 2025, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House 427 to 1, and Trump signed it the next day after reversing his position. The act of defiance here was signing the discharge petition to force the issue against his wishes. The near-unanimous final vote came only after the president had already reversed course, so the final tally is not itself the break.

In late May 2026, Trump gave his endorsement in the South Carolina governor's race to Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, passing over Mace. Mace had made her Epstein vote part of that story in her own posts:

On CNN on June 7, 2026, she said: "If the price of an endorsement was to not vote to release the Epstein files, that is a price I am unwilling to pay." On June 9, 2026, she lost the South Carolina governor primary, finishing fifth. In her concession, per reporting, she said she "voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that."

Nancy Mace on X, May 30, 2026: I voted to release the Epstein files. NO REGRETS.

Nancy Mace on X, May 30, 2026.

3. September 1, 2026: three points of daylight in one CNN interview

Mace came on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on September 1, 2026, initially to react to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll's resignation, which he submitted on August 31, 2026 after tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Over roughly seven minutes she put daylight between herself and the president on three of his signature issues. She did not name Trump as a villain: her words targeted process and, in her phrasing, "the people." The segment is CNN's and is linked in Sources below.

The first was the Iran war and the War Powers Act. Trump's war with Iran was roughly six months old. Mace said: "The grace period is over. We have offered past presidents just over 90 days to come to Congress to declare war or end it, and that needs to happen sooner, rather than later, so that we can adhere to the War Powers Act. That's what needs to happen. And if the War Powers Act were to come up today, I would vote for it." That last line reflects a shift: in March 2026 she had voted no on a resolution to force Trump to stand down in Iran.

Nancy Mace on CNN, September 1, 2026: If the War Powers Act were to come up today, I would vote for it.

The second was affordability. Trump has repeatedly dismissed voter anxiety over affordability as a Democratic "con job." Asked what she tells South Carolinians about gas prices, Mace said: "affordability is not the case that's been made by either Republicans or Democrats. I think it's one of the primary reasons why you're going to see a bloodbath within both parties on the ballot, both in their primaries and in the general election in November."

Nancy Mace on CNN, September 1, 2026: Affordability is not the case that has been made by either Republicans or Democrats.

The third was data centers. Blitzer read Trump's own line that communities that reject data centers will "end up being backwards and poor." Mace answered: "It's up to the people to decide... They don't want the government to take their land for a data center that's going to employ 20 people, hurt the environment, and steal their property. China's putting them in the ocean. Elon wants them in outer space. There are places here on the planet, here in the United States that wouldn't use eminent domain. A.I. is a national security issue. Data centers are a national security issue, but we can handle it, I think, in a commonsense way, where we aren't taking people's property... Data centers will be on the ballot in November."

Nancy Mace on CNN, September 1, 2026: China is putting them in the ocean. Elon wants them in outer space.

Not the first time

The pattern predates all of this, and it is worth noting without overstating it. In February 2022, after Trump called her "an absolutely terrible candidate" who had been "very disloyal" and endorsed her primary challenger Katie Arrington, Mace refused to stand down. She filmed a video outside Trump Tower touting her past support for him, and she went on to beat Trump's pick in the June 2022 primary. In July 2026 she endorsed Rep. Ralph Norman for the U.S. Senate over Trump's preferred candidate. To be precise, the 2022 Trump Tower video was Mace defending her own record of support, not attacking Trump. The break there is that she defied his endorsement of her opponent and won anyway.

Why it matters

Three breaks with the leader of her own party, across five years, all on the record and in her own words: the 2021 vote to certify, the Epstein files petition that helped cost her Trump's endorsement, and three points of policy daylight in a single CNN interview. Mace has spent 2026 alternately courting and needling the president. This entry is a catalog of the needling, dated and sourced. Readers can judge.

Sources and related coverage

Reporting credited to CNN, CBS News, Fox News, The Hill, CNBC, and the U.S. House Clerk record. Mace's own X posts are linked above.

  • August 30, 2026 · Dispatch

    Mace, on NewsNation: her tattoos are 'free speech,' and 'I might have more than nine'

    In an August 30, 2026 NewsNation Live interview, Rep. Nancy Mace framed her tattoos as an expression of free speech rather than a shot at President Trump, saying, 'I've always supported the president's policies. He's not always supported mine,' and tying the ink to 'the beauty of the First Amendment and free speech.' She also revised her own tattoo count upward on camera: 'I have a few tattoos. I might have more than nine, as what's been publicly reported.'

  • August 28, 2026 · Dispatch

    Conservative talk show host: disgraceful Nancy Mace...Go away

    On CNN This Morning on August 28, 2026, conservative radio host Jason Rantz (KTTH Seattle) tore apart Rep. Nancy Mace's proposal to bar naturalized citizens from serving in Congress, on the federal bench, or in the Cabinet. Host Audie Cornish, herself a naturalized citizen, asked Rantz point-blank: 'I want to ask, when will I be American?' Rantz refused to defend the resolution, said Mace 'does not represent the mainstream of Republicans or Americans on this particular topic at all,' and closed with a direct rebuke: 'This is a disgraceful bill by a disgraceful Nancy Mace, who's been rejected by Republicans. Go away!'

  • September 1, 2026 · Dispatch

    Mace missed another vote yesterday. The only House members skipping more are on medical leave.

    The U.S. House came back on Monday, August 31, 2026 from its five-week August recess, and Rep. Nancy Mace missed both of the first two roll-call votes, one of 42 members absent. It fits a documented pattern: Mace has missed 36.1% of all 2026 votes through August, more than one in three, against a House median near one in fifty. The only two sitting members who have missed a larger share of 2026's votes, Thomas Kean Jr. and Frederica Wilson, were both on disclosed medical leave. Mace has given no public reason for her absences.

  • August 27, 2026 · Dispatch

    Nancy Mace Attacks the Girl Scouts: 'New Girl Scout Uniform Dropped'

    On August 27, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace posted about the Girl Scouts twice within six minutes: first re-posting the same niqab 'GIRL SCOUT TROOPS OFFER ISLAMIC FAITH PATCHES' meme comedian Rob Schneider had used, then an AI-generated image of a girl in a full Girl Scout uniform whose face is entirely covered by a green veil, captioned 'New Girl Scout uniform dropped.' Both followed a direct reply she had left two days earlier under Schneider's post, in which she wrote that the Girl Scouts were 'promoting the oppression of women with the Islam badge.' All of it grew out of a viral 'Islamization of Girl Scouts' claim that began with War Room co-host Natalie Winters on August 24 and spread through Laura Ingraham, Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer and others. Girl Scouts of the USA called the claim misinformation and said the organization 'is not a religious organization and does not teach religion'; CAIR called the campaign 'manufactured outrage.' This dispatch shows every post as a screenshot, reproduces each verbatim with attribution, and adopts none of the speakers' characterizations.

  • August 20, 2026 · Dispatch

    Mace Won't Talk About Brian Musgrave, and He Isn't Even Under the Gag Order

    A year ago this week, a federal judge ended Brian Musgrave's defamation case against Rep. Nancy Mace, not because her 'predator' accusation was found true, but because the court held she was immune. Eighteen months after she named the Fort Mill businessman from the House floor, there is still no criminal charge, no evidence produced, no retraction, and SLED has told him he is not a target. Musgrave was never a party to the case Mace is gagged in, and his own case is closed, so nothing bars her from answering for the accusation. She simply does not.

  • August 19, 2026 · Dispatch

    'Freaky Tattoos': What Donald Trump Reportedly Said About Nancy Mace's Ink

    As Nancy Mace's nine-tattoo reveal blew up online, an old line from the president came back around. According to FITSNews, Donald Trump had already weighed in on Mace's ink, reportedly telling a group of South Carolina politicos last December that he'd heard she had several 'freaky tattoos.' The two-word take resurfaced in August 2026 when Mace debuted the tattoos herself on her new YouTube show. Neither Trump nor Mace has publicly confirmed the remark.