Mace appears to tease decision on SC governor bid in ‘next couple of days’

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is moving closer to launching a campaign for governor in her home state of South Carolina.

“I will be making a decision in the coming days,” Mace said this past weekend in a Digital interview. “We’re definitely leaning towards running for statewide office in South Carolina for governor.”

And Mace gave a similar response in a Channel interview Sunday, telling host Jon Scott that “I will be making a decision over the next couple of days about my future.”

Mace, a three-term congresswoman who represents a coastal district in the state’s Lowcountry, gave what appeared to be a big hint of her next political steps as she delivered a speech Friday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

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Delivering an address at the Politics and Eggs speaking series, which for a quarter-century has been a must-stop for White House hopefuls, Mace told the crowd that “not only do you pick presidents, maybe you can pick the next South Carolina governor too while were here today, because we’re going to be announcing a run very shortly potentially for that as well.”

Mace told Digital that there were a number of reasons why she would bid for South Carolina governor.

“We have the highest state income tax in the southeast, making us not competitive with other neighboring states, and a growing, booming economy under Donald Trump,” Mace said.

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“But also law and order. My state has been run over by illegals and our leaders have turned a blind eye. And I want to protect women and kids. We’ve got this gender bending ideology in colleges and universities across South Carolina, and we’ve got to end it,” she argued.

Mace would be entering a crowded GOP primary field in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is the Palmetto State’s longest-serving governor.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is South Carolina’s longest-serving governor, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2026. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell are all seeking the GOP nomination in the reliably red state. They were joined on Sunday by Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, who declared his candidacy.

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Mace said that if she launches a gubernatorial campaign, “we’re starting out front, in the lead, and it’s a two-man race” between her and Wilson.

And she pledged that “if I get in, I will fight to the finish, and I will take out South Carolina’s Attorney General, because he’s turned a blind eye on women and on children and on the state for a lot of reasons. He might force me to do this.”

Mace, in a bombshell speech on the U.S. House floor in February, alleged that Wilson ignored evidence of sexual assault against her and other women. In her hour-long speech, Mace accused four men, including her ex-fiance, of sexual crimes and said she was among the victims.

Wilson vehemently denied Mace’s accusations, saying at the time “that allegation was never made to me — no one in my office.”

Wilson, in a statement to on Monday, argued that “Nancy Mace is a liar who will do anything to get attention to distract from her liberal voting record. I’ve served our country and dedicated my civilian career to protecting children.”

“Her attacks are, again, categorically false and are just a distraction from her liberal agenda,” he added. “South Carolina families need a Governor who will fight for our values, not someone who will compromise them for political gain and social media clicks.”

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, is running for governor in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

And Wilson’s campaign highlighted that every sheriff in Mace’s congressional district has endorsed his campaign for governor.

Mace, who dropped out of high school at age 17, and worked at a Waffle House before eventually becoming the first female graduate of the Citadel’s Corps of Cadets, won election to Congress in 2020. She defeated Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham, to become the state’s first Republican woman elected to the House.

Mace, who worked on President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, strongly criticized his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters attempted to upend congressional certification of now-former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

Trump backed a primary challenger against Mace when she was up for re-election in 2022, but she successfully won re-nomination and re-election.

Mace later came to Trump’s defense after the then-former president was indicted for mishandling classified documents. And she endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.

Trump’s grip over the GOP, thanks to his 2024 victory to win back the White House, is stronger than ever, and his endorsements in GOP nomination races are extremely influential.

Asked if she could land the president’s endorsement if she ran for governor, Mace told Digital, “I’ll be working very hard if I get in to earn his support.”

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace speaks with an audience member after the Republican lawmaker from South Carolina appeared at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, on July 25, 2025, in Manchester, New Hampshire. ( / Paul Steinhauser )

Mace, who has leaned hard into cultural issues in recent years, didn’t disappoint in her speech in New Hampshire.

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“I love being here in the Granite State, because this is where real men protect women,” Mace said in her opening remarks.

“I’ve learned in my fight in Congress that we, as women, still have a war to wage with the far left, who want men in women’s spaces. They want men in our locker rooms. They want men showering next to our 12-year-old daughters,” she argued. “And they think men can get pregnant. I’m just here to say the biological truth is not that.”