Nancy Mace is an American politician who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for South Carolina’s 1st congressional district.
She was elected to this position in 2020, becoming the first Republican woman to represent South Carolina in Congress.
Prior to her election to Congress, Mace served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2018 to 2020.
She is a member of the Republican Party and has been a vocal advocate for conservative policies, including limited government, lower taxes and a strong national defense.
Mace is also a military veteran, having served in the South Carolina Air National Guard.
Nancy Mace upbringing
Mace grew up in Goose Creek, South Carolina, in the Lowcountry.
She is the daughter of a retired Army General and a retired school teacher.
Her parents instilled a strong work ethic in her, and when she dropped out of high school at the age of 17, they told her that if she was going to stop going to school, she had to start going to work.
Mace immediately became a waitress at the Waffle House on College Park Road in Ladson.
In 1999, she earned her GED and went on to attend the Citadel, where she became the first woman to graduate from the military college.
After college, Mace started her own company, which focused on technology, PR & marketing and commercial real estate.
She has also been involved in politics, serving as one of the most fiscally conservative members of the South Carolina General Assembly and one of the most pro-conservation lawmakers in the state of South Carolina.
Mace is a single mom of two children, ages 16 and 14, and has two cats named Tyler and Tiger and a puppy named Liberty.
She has been vocal about her personal experiences, including revealing that she was raped at age 16 during a speech on the South Carolina state house floor.
Mace has also spoken about her ‘motherly instinct’ to get her kids out of Washington, D.C., before the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
She is known for her savvy and irreverent approach to politics, as well as her ability to connect with people on a personal level.
Mace has been critical of her party at times but has also worked to leverage her position to push for issues she cares about, such as gun violence and women’s issues related to contraceptives and adoption.
Her approach comes with political risks, but she has been praised for her temperament and ideology.
Nancy Mace husband
Mace is married to Patrick Bryant, a Charleston software entrepreneur, whom she got engaged to in May 2022.
The proposal was a surprise, as Mace thought she was door knocking and getting b-roll footage for a future campaign ad when Bryant proposed to her.
The moment was caught on video and posted on Mace’s campaign accounts on social media.
There is no further information available on Mace’s husband.
Nancy Mace career
Mace dropped out of high school at the age of 17.
Her parents told her that if she was going to stop going to school, she had to start going to work. She immediately became a waitress at the Waffle House on College Park Road in Ladson.
Mace earned her high school diploma a few months later by taking college classes at Trident Technical College in North Charleston.
She graduated magna cum laude from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, where she was the school’s first female to graduate from its Corps of Cadets in 1999.
In 2004, Mace earned a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Georgia.
Before being sworn into Congress, she earned accolades as one of the most fiscally conservative members of the South Carolina General Assembly; she’s also one of the most pro-conservation lawmakers in the state of South Carolina.
In 2008, Mace started her own company. Her background in business is in technology, PR & marketing, and more recently commercial real estate before coming to Congress.
She is a fiscal conservative but leans toward the center on some social issues, which puts her at odds with the hard-right Republicans who now dominate the House.
Mace is trying to figure out how to change the Republican Party and has publicly criticized her party but backed it on most legislation.
She is the recipient of the 2019 Taxpayer Hero Award from the South Carolina Club for Growth, and she has a 100% record of voting to lower taxes.
Mace is also the recipient of the 2020 Friend of the Farm Bureau Award.
Mace is known for being savvy and irreverent and has become fluent in the art of the political troll, finding ways to signal to the MAGA base that she hasn’t forsaken it.
She has repeatedly, and baselessly, accused the Biden family of being involved in ‘prostitution rings’, and is hyper-aware of how she is perceived and of her precarious place in her party.
