Nancy Mace under House Ethics Committee investigation
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Rep. Nancy Mace speaks at a campaign event in South Carolina on Dec. 1, 2025. Photo: Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it is looking into allegations Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) over-billed her congressional office for funds to maintain her home in D.C.
Why it matters: The charges, which Mace's lawyer called "fundamentally flawed," could add further mayhem to her bid for governor of South Carolina.
- Mace has built a national profile for making heated public statements and picking fights with both political rivals and other individuals who she says have wronged her.
- Last November she reportedly berated officers at the Charleston International Airport, which she has denied.
Driving the news: The Ethics Committee said in a press release that it is reviewing an Office of Congressional Conduct report into allegations that Mace engaged in "improper reimbursement practices."
- The report says Mace consistently "requested and received the maximum allowable reimbursement" from a program meant to help House members pay their D.C. living costs.
- An OCC review of invoices, utility bills and other documents "identified discrepancies between the amounts requested and received by Rep. Mace ... and the total of these associated bills," the report says.
By the numbers: Over the course of two years, the report alleges, Mace received nearly $9,500 in excess payments.
- That calculation is reportedly based on the assumption that Mace was responsible for 100% of the property costs despite her only having a 28% ownership stake. She co-owned it with her ex-fiancé.
- "Because Rep. Mace declined to interview with the OCC in this review, the OCC was unable to confirm the extent of Rep. Mace's financial obligations with respect to the DC Property," the report says.
The other side: In a letter to the Ethics Committee, Mace's lawyer William Sullivan alleged that the report's "narrative appears to incorporate unverified assertions and materials that may have originated from, or been influenced by, Rep. Mace's former fiancé," Patrick Bryant.
- Mace publicly accused Bryant and several other men of sexual misconduct in a House floor speech last February. Bryant has denied those allegations and filed a defamation suit against Mace.
- Mace is "confident that the Committee will carefully evaluate the origins and credibility of the information at issue and will recognize the significant deficiencies that undermine" the report, Sullivan wrote.
