Part of: The House Ethics reimbursement investigation (2025-2026) · House Ethics Committee Investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace (OCC Review 25-5681)
SC's Nancy Mace owes $1,200 in ethics fees after legislators reduce her tab
Jessica Holdman reported that the S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to reduce Mace's $16,700 in state campaign-finance fines to $1,200. The fines had first surfaced in P&C reporting in 2021, resurfaced as a 2022 campaign issue, and sat unaddressed for years despite repeated staff outreach. Mace closed her campaign account in late November by donating $3,800 to a domestic abuse shelter and writing off $11,200 as accounting errors.
Jessica Holdman ·
"The House Ethics Committee, which is split evenly among Republicans and Democrats, voted unanimously to approve the reduction. She must still pay the bill."
Jessica Holdman, SC Daily Gazette, December 14, 2023
Holdman's reporting gave the full timeline: the unpaid fines first appeared in Post and Courier coverage in 2021, when Mace owed $5,100 and a spokeswoman told the paper she would address them. They surfaced again during her 2022 re-election campaign when her opponent, Democrat Annie Andrews, pointed out the hypocrisy after Mace's campaign criticized Andrews for her own late filings. Mace's campaign again said she was "in the process" of resolving them.
She was not. House Ethics staff noted they spent substantial time over the following years trying to reach Mace and received no response.
To finally close the account, Mace donated about $3,800 to My Sister's House (a North Charleston domestic abuse shelter) on November 27, accounted for $588 in monthly software fees, and wrote off $11,200 as "technical accounting errors." Two days later the committee voted unanimously to cut her $16,700 tab to $1,200.
Committee chairman Jay Jordan, R-Florence, cited precedent: "Had the problem been dealt with quicker, it probably would have had a slightly different outcome. It mattered that there was a lack of communication for an extended period, but it also mattered that there was ultimately cooperation and closure on the part of the candidate."
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After records showed she still hadn't paid ethics fine, Rep. Mace says she 'cut a check this week'
Six months after the S.C. House Ethics Committee reduced Mace's $16,700 fine to $1,200, public records showed she still had not paid even that reduced amount. Confronted with the records, Mace said she had 'cut a check this week.'
December 14, 2023 · DispatchNancy 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.
March 2, 2026 · DispatchUS Rep. Nancy Mace accused of misusing taxpayer funds to cover her DC housing and meals
Caitlin Byrd reported the Office of Congressional Conduct found 'substantial reason to believe' Mace improperly claimed nearly $9,500 in excess housing reimbursements tied to her $1.6 million Capitol Hill townhouse, also billing over $9,400 for food. Mace refused to cooperate with the OCC probe; her lawyer called the report 'fundamentally flawed.'