How Capitol Hill Drama Made A Mess For Nancy Mace Ahead Of Her Next Election

Things seemed to be going well for Nancy Mace two years ago. The South Carolina Republican was a rising star in Congress and had just fended off a primary from a Trump-backed opponent. She was on TV a lot. And that winter, Mace delivered a searing roast of her colleagues at D.C.’s annual press club dinner, wearing a half-sheer, floor-length black gown.

But since her unexpected vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker in October, Mace hasn’t been having such a good time. She’s become embroiled in a nasty public feud with the now-former speaker. Many of Mace’s staffers abandoned her and then brutally trashed her to the media. Her former chief of staff weighed trying to primary her.

Congress is a place where lawmakers with big egos take nakedly self-serving risks to become famous. But Mace may be an example of what happens when that springboard to fame goes awry.

The two-term Republican, known for being the first woman to graduate from the once all-male Citadel military college, took a chance when she aligned herself with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and the other six attention-seeking House Republicans who forced a vote on McCarthy’s speakership. The move plunged the House into leaderless chaos for three weeks — and for Mace, set into motion a staff revolt, a seemingly endless cycle of bad press and, now, a tough reelection.

Mace faces a primary Tuesday that will test how much goodwill this all has cost her in South Carolina’s coastal low country. Mace is locked in a race against Catherine Templeton, an official in former Gov. Nikki Haley’s administration who entered with a nudge from McCarthy’s advisors. Templeton claims Mace “flip-flops for fame.”

The former speaker, who retired at the end of last year, hasn’t hidden