Nancy Mace is leaving Congress. Why, and what is next?

She gave her reasons in a 13-minute video from a spare bedroom. The public record adds several she left out.

Source: GET MACED, "I'm LEAVING Congress. Here's What Nobody Saw Coming," posted Oct 22, 2026 on her YouTube channel (@get-maced). Quotes below are checked against the audio; timestamps link to the moment she says them.

Nancy Mace recorded her goodbye to Congress at home. The walls of the room were only partly painted. Her two Havanese puppies wandered in and out. Thirteen days before the midterms, the congresswoman from South Carolina's First District looked into the camera and summed up the race that ended her run for governor.

"I got my ass kicked in the governor's race. I placed fifth, by the way." (2:18)

Mace leaves the U.S. House on Jan. 3, 2027. "I will retire from the U.S. House January 3rd. I'm not retiring, retiring. I'm only 48," she said (2:52). She turns 49 on Dec. 4, according to the Official Congressional Directory. She said she plans to leave politics "at least in the short term and probably for the long term" (2:59).

In the video she gives four reasons: a term-limit promise, press coverage she calls false, threats, and fatigue. Each is set out below in her own words, next to what the public record shows. Then come the race for her seat and the media business she is building to replace her job.

What she said

The promise. Mace says she ran for governor instead of a fourth House term because of a pledge. "When I ran for the House the first time, I said I would only serve three terms or six years in the House. I really do believe in term limits," she said (2:26). She said the same thing on X on June 10, 2026, the day after the primary: "When I ran in 2020 I said I'd only serve 3 terms and my time is up."

What we could verify: Three terms starting Jan. 3, 2021 do end on Jan. 3, 2027. We did not find a 2020 news story, debate or campaign page in which she makes the three-term pledge. The only sources we found are her own statements from 2026. If a reader has a 2020 source, we will add it.

The press. "One of the reasons I'm getting out of this gig too is that I just got tired of being smeared in the press. I just got tired of the bullshit," she said (4:50). She described "people calling me an alcoholic or- or a- what do they call it? A functioning alcoholic, which none of those stories were true" (5:06).

She named one outlet. "I have yet to find an attorney who will sue New York mag because everything was just alleged. And there are anonymous sources" (5:19). She then took aim at one detail: "they said I had tequila delivered at 2 a.m." (5:35), adding that "liquor stores aren't open at 2 a.m. in D.C." (5:41). She had denied it a month earlier on the same show: "I never once ordered tequila from my staff at 2am" (GET MACED, Sept. 22, 8:45).

What we could verify: The story is "Nancy Mace Is Not Okay" by Jake Lahut, published by New York magazine's Intelligencer on Feb. 2, 2026. It relies on unnamed former staffers. One of them is quoted saying, "our poor scheduler was getting calls at two o'clock in the morning to come bring her bottles of tequila," in incidents the staffer recalled from as far back as 2021. The article does not say the bottles were bought at a store, in Washington, or at 2 a.m. D.C. law does bar licensed liquor stores from selling or delivering between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. (D.C. Code section 25-722), so her point about store hours is accurate as far as it goes. It does not answer the allegation as the staffer worded it. We did not find the phrase "functioning alcoholic" in the New York piece, and we could not identify which headline she means. Her director of operations told the magazine the allegations were "so ridiculous they don't even merit a response." We found no public record of a lawsuit against the magazine. All of the article's claims remain allegations from anonymous sources, and Mace denies them.

Threats. "I've had a lot of threats along the way. I had to call Capitol Police last week about another one," she said (6:15). She described websites built to target her and "people following you around with a camera when you're in the store," and said: "It's emotionally taxing and it's tiring." The next night she told her guest she was looking forward to "less death threats" (GET MACED, Oct. 23, 10:37).

What we could verify: The threats against her are real and on the court record. On July 21, 2026, an Indianapolis woman was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for threatening her, and a Greenville defendant was sentenced the same day to house arrest and probation (Live 5 News, SC Daily Gazette). We found no public report of the call she says she made to Capitol Police in mid-October. Capitol Police reports are not normally public. This claim rests on her word alone.

Fatigue. "Is this worth it? Is this worth my life?" she asked (5:47). She said she is looking forward to "getting back to being a normie for a while" (6:39) and to seeing her children more often.

The road from a 2020 flip to fifth place

Mace entered elected office in a special election. She won South Carolina House District 99 on Jan. 16, 2018, with 56.5 percent, according to the state House Journal. On Nov. 3, 2020, she unseated Democrat Joe Cunningham in the First Congressional District by 5,415 votes, 50.6 percent to 49.3 percent (Ballotpedia, certified results). That took back for Republicans a seat Cunningham had flipped in 2018. In the video she calls it a win "by one point"; the margin was 1.3 points.

She was sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021. In 2022 she beat a primary challenger, Katie Arrington, whom Donald Trump had endorsed against her after she criticized him over Jan. 6. She won that primary with 53.1 percent and the general election with 56.4 percent. In 2024, with Trump's endorsement, she won the primary with 56.8 percent and the general election with 58.2 percent (Ballotpedia).

On Aug. 4, 2025, she launched a campaign for governor (CNN). Under South Carolina rules that meant giving up her House seat. Candidates were filing to replace her by that same month (Post and Courier, WCIV). Her own campaign memo had her near the top of the field in March 2026. New York magazine reported in February that her support had "been cut nearly in half" since October.

On May 29, 2026, Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (Post and Courier). Mace blamed her vote on the Epstein files: "That's the sole reason I didn't get the endorsement, because I voted to release the Epstein files, and I'm OK with that" (The 19th). That is her explanation. The endorsement and its timing are documented; the reason behind it is hers.

On June 9, 2026, she finished fifth in the Republican primary with 57,380 votes, or 12.1 percent of 472,956 cast (Ballotpedia, certified). Evette led with 28.9 percent, ahead of Attorney General Alan Wilson (26.1), Rep. Ralph Norman (17.1) and businessman Rom Reddy (14.2). Mace did not carry a single county, and she finished fifth in her home county of Charleston too (HuffPost, via Wikipedia). She conceded and endorsed Wilson that night: "This is not the end of the fight, but the end of this chapter" (ABC Columbia). Wilson won the June 23 runoff with 68.6 percent (NBC News).

The reasons she did not list

The video leaves out several things that had been weighing on her career. None of them is a finding of wrongdoing. Each one is part of the record.

House Ethics. On Nov. 18, 2025, the board of the Office of Congressional Conduct voted 6 to 0 that there was "substantial reason to believe" she "engaged in improper reimbursement practices" for lodging. The board said her 2024 requests exceeded the expenses of her D.C. property by $9,485.46 over four months. It also said she and three others "refused to cooperate." The House Ethics Committee released that report on March 2, 2026 and opened its own review (House Ethics Committee; Roll Call). The committee has said a referral "does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred." Her lawyer called the report "fundamentally flawed," and Mace called the probe retaliation.

The airport. A Charleston County Aviation Authority police report said she cursed at officers over a late escort on Oct. 30, 2025, calling them "[expletive] incompetent" (FITSNews, which obtained the report; CBS News). Mace disputed the report and called a later airport review an exoneration. New York magazine linked the episode to her slide in the primary polls.

Staff. In February 2024, The Daily Beast reported that her entire D.C. office had turned over since Nov. 1, 2023. New York magazine reported in 2026 that she "has continued to shed much of her staff." Her office has rejected the former staffers' accounts.

The lawyers and the campaign money. From December 2025 to June 2026, her House campaign committee, Nancy Mace for Congress, paid $176,206.28 to two law firms, according to Federal Election Commission filings: $150,000 to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in three payments of $50,000, and $26,206.28 to Moorman Law Firm of Greenville. In the seven years before, the committee had reported $24,264.44 in legal fees in all. The Washington Sun first reported the first Pillsbury payment on Jan. 31, 2026. The same two firms signed the defamation suit Mace filed in Charleston County in May 2025, Mace v. Bowman, in which her complaint calls her "a private citizen of the State of South Carolina." Pillsbury also wrote her response to the House Ethics referral. Every one of the FEC lines says only "legal fees." The filings do not say what the money paid for. (Our full record of the payments.)

The first payment: FEC Schedule B, Year-End 2025 report, image 202601309794600461. Committee: Nancy Mace for Congress, C00710103.

FEC Schedule B, April 2026 quarterly report, image 202604159857688773.

Left: FEC Schedule B, image 202601309794600461 and image 202604159857688773. Right: complaint, signature block. Both are real filings; the labels are Maceopedia's.

While the checks went out, nothing came in. The committee reported $0.00 in receipts in four straight quarterly reports through October 2026. Its cash on hand fell from $664,636.24 at the end of 2024 to $74,937.95 on Oct. 14, 2026, with no debts (FEC).

Form 3, July 2026 quarterly report, Detailed Summary Page, image 202607159875083089.

Is there an FEC investigation? No public record shows one. Federal law bars converting campaign money to personal use (52 U.S.C. 30114(b)), and the FEC judges legal fees case by case under 11 C.F.R. 113.1(g), which asks whether the expense would exist even without the campaign or the office. On Oct. 27, 2026 we searched the FEC's enforcement records for the committee's ID, C00710103, and found no enforcement matter (MUR). We found no news report of a complaint. The only FEC enforcement record for the committee is a 2022 negotiated settlement, ADR 1070, in which the committee and its treasurer, Paul Kilgore, agreed to a $4,350 penalty. That matter came from the FEC's Reports Analysis Division, which reviews committee reports, and it predates the legal fees by more than three years. There is no finding of any violation over the legal fees.

Her other explanation. In an interview posted Aug. 30, 2026 on the Tara Palmeri show, she gave a blunter reason: "I'm leaving Congress because I can't get shit done."

Who is running for her seat, and can it flip?

The open seat is a real race. Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt, a Charleston County councilwoman endorsed by Trump, won a June 23 runoff over Mark Smith, 53.7 percent to 46.3 percent. Democrat Nancy Lacore, a retired Navy admiral and former chief of the Navy Reserve, won her runoff over Mac Deford, 52.1 percent to 47.9 percent. Libertarian Bill Reeside is also on the Nov. 3 ballot (Ballotpedia; Wikipedia).

The district leans Republican but is not safe. The Cook Partisan Voting Index rates it R+6, and Trump carried it 55.7 percent to 42.7 percent in 2024 (Ballotpedia, from The Downballot). Cook Political Report, Inside Elections and Decision Desk HQ rate it Lean Republican. Sources differ on Sabato's Crystal Ball, which is listed as Likely Republican by Ballotpedia and Lean Republican by Wikipedia.

Lacore has raised far more. Through Oct. 14 she had raised $4.87 million to Honeycutt's $1.29 million, though Honeycutt had more cash left: $311,518 to $175,304 (FEC). Every public poll we found was paid for by a party or an aligned group. Two Democratic polls in October showed Lacore ahead by 2 and 3 points. A Republican poll from early October showed Honeycutt ahead by 6. We found no nonpartisan poll.

Mace herself is worried. "I'm worried about my seat flipping again to a Democrat. If it's not this election cycle, it could be the next one," she said (10:08), just after saying, "I think I'm grateful that I'm not on the ballot" (10:06). She also predicted the midterms will be "a bloodbath" for Republicans (8:36).

What is next: the media business

Mace says the next job is already running. "This is my home studio. I built my own studio," she said (11:16), and "I'll be able to work from home a little bit" (12:17). Her YouTube channel, now at @get-maced, describes GET MACED as a nightly show, with new episodes Monday through Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern. The branded show began in mid-August 2026, when its launch got wide press coverage.

The numbers she cites are mostly self-reported. In the Oct. 22 video she asked viewers to help her reach 100,000 YouTube subscribers: "We're so close" (3:13). The next night she said, "We hit 100,000 subscribers on YouTube last night" (Oct. 23, 14:38). When we checked on Oct. 27, YouTube showed 112,000. She told viewers she wants to reach a million. She said, "We're getting over 100,000 new followers every single month right now" (10:29), and "We're about to hit a million followers on my two Facebook accounts" (12:31). We could not verify either claim. Facebook did not show follower counts to our logged-out checks.

Then there is the money. "I'm actually very much looking forward to trying to make ends meet as a private citizen again for the first time again in about nine years," she said (2:42). Her last annual financial disclosure, filed Aug. 14, 2026, lists one source of earned income: her House salary of $174,000. It lists no liabilities. Her largest listed accounts are a credit union checking account and a SEP IRA, each valued between $50,001 and $100,000. It also reports the sale of a Washington, D.C., property in February 2025 for $500,001 to $1 million (Clerk of the House, filing 10081687). Her congressional directory biography lists a public relations firm, The Mace Group, and a 2001 book about her years at The Citadel.

A pension will not fill the gap soon. Congressional Research Service rules make members with at least five years of service eligible for a pension at age 62. By our arithmetic, six years of House service would make Mace eligible in December 2039. We have not confirmed her retirement plan or a dollar figure. On a Live 5 podcast in August she said, "We'll probably start some companies." We found no announced book deal, board seat, lobbying registration or paid media contract.

She did not frame the show as a retreat. "I'm not giving up on politics," she said, promising to keep "being a voice online, being a voice on the podcast" (6:42). Come January, she said, she will have time to be "more of a voice, more of a hammer, more of a weapon. Mace is a weapon, by the way" (10:46).

Open questions

• Where is the 2020 pledge? Her three-term promise is now her main public reason for leaving. We have not found it in the 2020 record.
• Which "functioning alcoholic" headline? She says stories called her that. We did not find the phrase in the New York magazine piece.
• Will she sue? She says no attorney will take the case. Her own aide told the magazine in February, "I hope she sues you."
• What did she report to Capitol Police? She says she made a report the week before the video. No public record yet.
• Did campaign money pay for a private lawsuit? The FEC filings say only "legal fees." No FEC complaint or enforcement matter is on the public record.
• Where does the House Ethics review stand? The committee opened its review in March 2026. It has not announced a result.
• Can a YouTube show replace a $174,000 salary? Her disclosure shows no other earned income. The channel's subscriber count is public. Its revenue is not.
• Is this really the end? "Probably for the long term" is not "never."

Said vs. verified

She said	The record
Placed fifth in the governor's race	Verified: fifth, 12.1 percent, June 9, 2026 (Ballotpedia, certified)
Beat Cunningham "by one point" in 2020	Close: 1.3 points, 5,415 votes
Promised in 2020 to serve three terms	Unverified: no 2020 source found; her 2026 statements only
Leaves the House Jan. 3	Verified: end of the 119th Congress
"Only 48," turning 49 in weeks	Verified: born Dec. 4, 1977
Tequila at 2 a.m. story false; stores closed	Store-hours point accurate (D.C. Code 25-722); allegation is attributed to an anonymous staffer and denied by Mace
No attorney will sue New York magazine	No lawsuit found
Called Capitol Police "last week"	Unverified; past threats are on the court record
100,000 YouTube subscribers	Verified: 112,000 shown Oct. 27
100,000 new followers a month; near a million on Facebook	Unverified
Worried her seat could flip	Ratings: Lean Republican; partisan polls split

Sources and related coverage

• GET MACED, "I'm LEAVING Congress. Here's What Nobody Saw Coming," Oct. 22, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhwR0JTzYsk
• GET MACED episodes of Sept. 22, 2026 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQPdMo-LmBc) and Oct. 23, 2026 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myb2jwSRCss)
• Jake Lahut, "Nancy Mace Is Not Okay," New York magazine (Intelligencer), Feb. 2, 2026. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/nancy-mace-is-not-okay.html
• The New Republic, "'She's Not OK': Bombshell Report Details Nancy Mace's Downward Spiral." https://newrepublic.com/post/206009/republican-nancy-mace-staff-alcohol-airbnbs
• ABC News 4 (WCIV), "Inside New York Magazine's investigation on Mace." https://abcnews4.com/news/local/inside-new-york-magazines-investigation-on-mace-reports-nancy-mace-accusations-former-office-members
• D.C. Code section 25-722. https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/25-722
• South Carolina House Journal, Jan. 23, 2018. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess122_2017-2018/hj18/20180123.htm
• Ballotpedia, SC-01 elections of 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026, and the 2026 South Carolina governor election. https://ballotpedia.org/South_Carolina%27s_1st_Congressional_District_election,_2026
• CNN, "Republican Rep. Nancy Mace launches campaign for South Carolina governor," Aug. 4, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/04/politics/nancy-mace-south-carolina-governor
• Post and Courier, "Friday night bombshell: Donald Trump endorses Pamela Evette for governor of South Carolina," May 29, 2026. https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/donald-trump-pamela-evette-endorsement-governor/article_821d67be-33be-46c4-b90c-5f78f8cd1653.html
• The 19th, "Trump backed Pamela Evette over Nancy Mace. South Carolina Republicans followed." https://19thnews.org/2026/06/south-carolina-governor-results-evette-wilson/
• NBC News, "Alan Wilson wins GOP nomination for South Carolina governor after dual Trump endorsement," June 23, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/south-carolina-governor-runoff-election-winner-wilson-rcna351122
• Roll Call, "Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman lose bids for governor in South Carolina," June 9, 2026; "House Ethics to investigate Mace on reimbursement practices," March 2, 2026. https://rollcall.com/2026/03/02/house-ethics-to-investigate-mace-on-reimbursement-practices/
• House Ethics Committee statement and OCC report. https://ethics.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/OCC-Report-and-Findings-Rep.-Mace-3.2.26.pdf
• CBS News, Charleston airport incident report, Nov. 1, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-nancy-mace-cursed-berated-charleston-airport-police-over-escort-incident/
• FITSNews, airport police report, Oct. 31, 2025. https://www.fitsnews.com/2025/10/31/nancy-mace-airport-incident-detailed-in-police-report/
• The Daily Beast, "A Major Sign of Trouble in Nancy Mace's Office: Total Staff Turnover," Feb. 5, 2024. https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-major-sign-of-trouble-in-nancy-maces-office-total-staff-turnover/
• Live 5 News, threat sentencing, July 21, 2026. https://www.live5news.com/2026/07/21/sc-trans-activist-sentenced-threatening-assassinate-us-rep-nancy-mace/
• Maceopedia, "Nancy Mace's campaign paid her lawsuit lawyers $176,206." /dispatches/2026-10-20-nancy-mace-campaign-legal-fees
• The Washington Sun, Taylor Giorno, Jan. 31, 2026. https://www.washingtonsun.com/2026-election/congress-surplus-campaign-money-fec
• FEC, ADR 1070, Nancy Mace for Congress (closed April 20, 2022). https://www.fec.gov/data/legal/alternative-dispute-resolution/1070/
• 52 U.S.C. 30114 and 11 C.F.R. 113.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30114
• FEC (OpenFEC), committee C00710103 and SC-01 candidate totals, queried Oct. 27, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00710103/
• Clerk of the House, Mace annual financial disclosure, filed Aug. 14, 2026. https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2025/10081687.pdf
• Congressional Research Service, "Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress" (RL30631). https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL30631.html
• Official Congressional Directory, 119th Congress. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2026-02-20/pdf/CDIR-2026-02-20.pdf