Part of: The House Ethics reimbursement investigation (2025-2026) · House Ethics Committee Investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace (OCC Review 25-5681)
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.'
"Rep. Mace says she 'cut a check this week.'"
SC Daily Gazette, June 20, 2024
Six months after the S.C. House Ethics Committee unanimously voted in December 2023 to reduce Mace's $16,700 state ethics fine to $1,200, public records reviewed by the SC Daily Gazette showed she had not paid even the reduced amount. Confronted with those records, Mace said she had "cut a check this week."
The reporting added a new chapter to a years-long pattern: the fines first appeared in public reporting in 2021, were a campaign issue in 2022, and went unresolved through two more years of committee staff outreach before the committee agreed to a 93-percent reduction in December 2023. The $1,200 check, Mace said, was sent only after records surfaced showing she had not yet paid.
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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.
December 14, 2023 · DispatchSC'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.
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.'