Rep. Nancy Mace kicks off South Carolina GOP gubernatorial bid. She says she’s ‘Trump in high heels’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina is running for governor, entering a GOP primary in which competition for President Donald Trump’s endorsement — and the backing of his base of supporters — is expected to be fierce.

Mace, who last year won her third term representing South Carolina’s 1st District, made her run official during a launch event Monday at The Citadel military college in Charleston. She plans to start a statewide series of town halls later this week with an event in Myrtle Beach.

“I’m running for governor because South Carolina doesn’t need another empty suit and needs a governor who will fight for you and your values,” Mace said. “South Carolina needs a governor who will drag the truth into sunlight and flip the tables if that’s what it takes.”

Mace told The Associated Press on Sunday she plans a multi-pronged platform aimed in part at shoring up the state’s criminal justice system, ending South Carolina’s income tax, protecting women and children, expanding school choice and vocational education and improving the state’s energy options.

Official filing for South Carolina’s 2026 elections doesn’t open until March, but several other Republicans have already entered the state’s first truly open governor’s race in 16 years, including Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Rep. Ralph Norman.

Both Wilson and Evette have touted their own connections to the Republican president, but Mace — calling herself “Trump in high heels” — said she is best positioned to carry out his agenda in South Carolina, where he has remained popular since his 2016 state primary win helped cement his status as the GOP presidential nominee.

Saying she plans to seek his support, Mace pointed to her defense of Trump in an interview that resulted in ABC News agreeing to pay $15 million toward his presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit. She also noted that she called Trump early this year as part of an effort to persuade GOP holdouts to support Rep. Mike Johnson to become House speaker.

“No one will work harder to get his attention and his endorsement,” she said. “No one else in this race can say they’ve been there for the president like I have, as much as I have and worked as hard as I have to get the president his agenda delivered to him in the White House.”

Mace has largely supported Trump, working for his 2016 campaign but levying criticism against him following the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol, which spurred Trump to back a GOP challenger in her 2022 race. Mace defeated that opponent, won reelection and was endorsed by Trump in her 2024 campaign.

A month after she told the AP in January that she was “seriously considering” a run, Mace went what she called “scorched earth,” using a nearly hour-long speech on the U.S. House floor in February to accuse her ex-fiancé of physically abusing her, recording sex acts with her and others without their consent, and conspiring with business associates in acts of rape and sexual misconduct.

Mace’s ex-fiancé said he “categorically” denied the accusations, and another man Mace mentioned has sued her for defamation, arguing the accusations were a “dangerous mix of falsehoods and baseless accusations.”

“I want every South Carolinian to watch me as I fight for my rights as a victim,” Mace said, asked if she worried about litigation related to the speech. “I want them to know I will fight just as hard for them as I am fighting for myself.”

Mace, 47, was the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, the state’s military college, where her father then served as commandant of cadets. After briefly serving in the state House, in 2020 she became the first Republican woman elected to represent South Carolina in Congress, flipping the 1st District after one term with a Democratic representative.

“I’m going to draw the line, and I’m going to hold it for South Carolina, and I’m going to put her people first,” Mace said.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.