Part of: The House Ethics reimbursement investigation (2025-2026) · House Ethics Committee Investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace (OCC Review 25-5681)
Nancy Mace racked up nearly $17K in fines as a state rep. She will only pay a fraction of it.
Nick Reynolds reported that the S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously on December 14, 2023 to reduce Mace's $16,700 in unpaid state campaign-finance fines to just $1,200 -- 7 percent of what she owed -- after she filed an appeal citing financial hardship, COVID-era family health issues, and death threats. Mace earns a $174,000 congressional salary and, with her partner, had purchased a $3.9 million Isle of Palms home. Committee members noted she had ignored repeated outreach for years.
Nick Reynolds ·
"Still, the ultimate fine -- $1,200 -- represents just over 7 percent of what Mace owed."
Nick Reynolds, The Post and Courier, December 14, 2023
Nick Reynolds broke the story the same day the S.C. House Ethics Committee acted. The committee voted unanimously to reduce Mace's $16,700 in unpaid state ethics fines to $1,200, accepting an appeal from the congresswoman that cited financial hardship, COVID-era health problems in her family, and death threats she received after January 6, 2021.
The fines had accumulated over years after Mace left the state house and failed to close her campaign account -- an account she had repeatedly promised to address since at least 2021. By March 2023 the tab stood at $16,700, making Mace one of the largest delinquent accounts on the committee's books. House Ethics staff noted they had spent substantial time trying to reach her and received no response.
She closed the account on December 12, 2023 -- two days before the committee vote -- donating approximately $3,800 to My Sister's House, a North Charleston domestic abuse shelter, accounting for $588 in software fees, and writing off $11,200 as "technical accounting errors."
Reynolds reported the contrast the committee did not publicly address: Mace earns a $174,000 annual congressional salary and, with her then-partner Patrick Bryant, had purchased a $3.9 million home on Isle of Palms and jointly owned a $1.3 million Washington, D.C. property. The article noted the couple had recently separated.
Committee chairman Jay Jordan, R-Florence, defended the reduction but acknowledged the circumstances were unusual: "I think financial (hardship), in my mind, was the least of those issues. There were health issues involving a child, that was a meaningful thing."
Mace's office did not respond to the Post and Courier before publication.
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