Outspoken South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is mulling a major career change that could shake up the makeup of the GOP on Capitol Hill.
After weeks of speculation that Mace could run for Governor of South Carolina, local Charleston, SC NBC affiliate WCBD reported yesterday that Mace is planning to deliver what her team called a “major address on the future of South Carolina” this coming Monday.
“President Trump needs America First governors. South Carolina needs a fighter,” she said in a social media post.
It comes one day after Mace announced a statewide series of town hall-style events throughout August, although dates and locations have not yet been shared publicly, according to WCBD.
Mace has been hinting at a potential run for South Carolina governor over the past few months, even recently saying she “may be forced” to enter the race because the state has “gone woke” during a weekend interview on Fox News.
“I will be making a decision over the next couple of days about my future,” she said on ‘Fox News Weekend.’
“I believe I may be forced to run for governor because I can’t watch my beautiful red state of South Carolina go woke.”
Mace: I believe I may be forced to run for governor because I cannot watch my beautiful red state of South Carolina go woke. It gone woke over the last couple of years pic.twitter.com/tkBSF8fQfy
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2025
Mace didn’t elaborate on how South Carolina has become “woke” during the interview.
Mace would enter a crowded GOP primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster (R).
If she runs, Mace will join a growing Republican primary field that already includes South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, and Representative Ralph Norman, who recently announced his candidacy.
According to The Hill, Mace is already leading a hypothetical 2026 GOP gubernatorial field in new polling, despite not yet announcing her candidacy.
The survey from the nonpartisan research organization South Carolina Policy Council found Mace with 16 percent support from Republican-identifying voters — 1 point ahead of who launched his campaign last month. Evette earned 8 percent support, Norman snagged 6 percent and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell earned 3 percent.
In a recent interview, Mace already framed the potential election as a potential faceoff against Wilson.
The two have already verbally sparred over their voting records.
“This is a two-man race, if I get in, between me and Alan Wilson, the South Carolina attorney general, who likes to put pedophiles on trial and give them one day in jail,” the congresswoman said.
Wilson called the jabs “categorically false” and hit back by labeling Mace “a liar who will do anything to get attention to distract from her liberal voting record.”
Mace flipped South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District to GOP control in 2020, and she won reelection by double digits last year. A staunch supporter of President Trump, Mace backed him in the 2024 GOP presidential primary over her fellow South Carolinian, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R), who has notably endorsed Norman in the gubernatorial race.
Mace told The Associated Press in January that she plans to ask for support from President Donald Trump, who has maintained popularity in the state since his 2016 primary win there helped cement his status as the GOP presidential nominee. He also backed Mace in her own GOP primary race last year.
She currently represents the state’s only swing district, which includes the Charleston area. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris beat Trump in Charleston County in November, even as the president won the state by 18 points.
Mace’s district, which spans South Carolina’s southeastern coast in what’s known as the Lowcountry, is the only one in the state to have switched party control for decades.
The 1st District was held by a Democrat for a single term until Mace won it back for Republicans in 2020.