CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., doubled down on her recent vote to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speakership in a Wednesday afternoon press call, indicating that her main reason for her action was a perceived lack of trust.
Mace joined seven other hard-line Republicans, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and House Democrats, in a vote that ousted McCarthy from the gavel he desperately sought in a four day, 15-vote endeavor in January. To gain the speakership, McCarthy made concessions to the right-wing faction of his party; the same group that pushed to remove him from his office after he struck a deal with Democrats to pass a stopgap spending bill, keeping the government open until mid-November.
Now, without a speaker, the House is paralyzed. A government shutdown is still a possibility. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., one of McCarthy's top lieutenants, took the gavel in the interim, but until the House decides who will be its next speaker, it can not work to pass laws. The next deadline for a government shutdown is Nov. 17.
For Mace's part in sending the United States House into unprecedented territory, voting against the majority of her party to remove the now-former speaker, she said she hopes that with the next leader in the House, there will be more trust, which she said didn't exist with McCarthy.
"For me, this was a vote of principle and a vote of conscience," Mace said.
I could not, in good conscience, continue to support a speaker who was unwilling to tell the truth. To me, you have to have honesty and truth, especially how divisive this country is. We had a guy who was telling Conservatives one thing, moderates another, and Democrats something else. This is not the way to lead.It is a familiar message for Mace, who, following the vote on Tuesday, took to X, the site formerly known as Twitter, to explain that McCarthy broke promises she felt were irredeemable for him to keep his job.
"The Speaker has not lived up to his word on how the House would operate," she wrote. "No budget, no separate spending bills until it was too late, a CR which takes spending power out of the hands of the people and puts all the power into the hands of a select few. There has also been no action on many issues we care about and were promised. We were promised we would move on women’s issues and legislation to keep our communities safe. Those things never happened."
Mace's vote may not have directly led to McCarthy's ousting, but it indicates a change between her and the former Republican leader – who also endorsed her and helped her win re-election in 2022.
She explained that, in her perspective, McCarthy didn't honor commitments regarding balanced budget amendments, two women's related bills she'd worked on that weren't supported after she was told they would be, and a bill that would address gun violence.
I worked on all these things, and I was very public about it," Mace said. "We want to make sure we have leadership, no matter where they stand on an issue, even when we disagree, that will keep their word.Mace also said she looks forward to the process of selecting a new speaker. She explained that it could be a moment to unite Americans in leadership that will "keep their word."
Following Tuesday's historic vote, some of Mace's colleagues accused her of being a "traitor" and a "liar" for her decision to vote against the majority of the Republican party and oust the former speaker. To those accusations, Mace said she only had her constituents in mind when she voted her conscience.
"I owe nobody in D.C. anything," Mace said. "In terms of this decision on the motion to vacate, giving us a new speaker who will be honest with the American people, keep their promises, and keep their word is better for the country overall."
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