Austin McCubbin
Republican political operative who managed Nancy Mace's 2022 congressional re-election campaign and later served as a senior consultant for her 2025-2026 gubernatorial campaign before publicly resigning.
J. Austin McCubbin is a South Carolina-based Republican political operative who has worked in campaigns at both the state and federal level. He managed Nancy Mace's 2022 congressional re-election campaign, a race she won by roughly eight points, and later served as Donald Trump's South Carolina state director during the 2024 presidential campaign cycle. McCubbin was subsequently named a lead consultant for Mace's 2025 gubernatorial campaign before publicly resigning in December 2025.
Connection to the Nancy Mace record
McCubbin's ties to Mace span several election cycles. He managed her 2022 House re-election campaign in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. Following that race, he worked in national Republican politics, including a role as South Carolina state director for the Trump campaign in 2024.
In August 2025, Mace's gubernatorial campaign announced McCubbin as a returning lead consultant and state director. According to the Post and Courier (December 2025) and NOTUS (December 2025), he resigned on December 1, 2025, publicly announcing his departure via X (formerly Twitter). In his resignation statement, McCubbin alleged that Mace had aligned herself with positions associated with Sen. Rand Paul and his political network, writing that he was "100% breaking with her campaign out of loyalty to the President." He stated that Mace's campaign was, in his view, operating as a proxy for Paul's prospective 2028 presidential ambitions.
Mace's campaign disputed McCubbin's account. Her spokesperson stated that McCubbin had not raised funds for the campaign, rarely appeared for campaign work, and resigned after demanding $10,000 per month in compensation. McCubbin, for his part, told the Post and Courier he had worked without pay since August under an arrangement contingent on fundraising targets and considered a promised success bonus to have been unlawfully withheld after it was reported to the FEC.
The dispute between McCubbin and the Mace campaign is unresolved; neither party's account has been adjudicated.
McCubbin is named in a publicly filed court affidavit (Berg v. Bryant, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124, filed December 22, 2025 in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas) as someone with "potentially relevant information" in that litigation. That filing is part of the public court record.
Sources
- Post and Courier, "Nancy Mace campaign official resigns, urges vote against her" (December 2025)
- NOTUS, "Top Nancy Mace Adviser Quits After Accusing Her of Turning on Trump" (December 1, 2025)
- Newsweek, "Nancy Mace Campaign Consultant Quits, Says Trump Shouldn't Endorse Her for SC Governor"
- ABC News 4 (Charleston), "One of Nancy Mace's 'lead consultants' resigns from campaign, alleges disloyalty to Trump"
- Nancy Mace campaign press release, "TRUMP SOUTH CAROLINA STATE DIRECTOR JOINS NANCY MACE FOR GOVERNOR"
- Berg v. Bryant, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124, Affidavit filed December 22, 2025 (Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, public record)