South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace got a taste of her own medicine when she bragged about one of her biggest achievements in another attack against transgender people—only to be called out by far-right conservatives who accused her of doing the same thing: entering a space they believe should be designated based on sex assigned at birth.
Since November, Mace has garnered national attention for her campaign against Democratic Representative Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Mace introduced a resolution to bar McBride from using women’s facilities at the Capitol complex, has posted extensively on social media—hundreds of times—targeting transgender individuals, and made multiple media appearances advocating for anti-transgender policies.
This week, Mace highlighted a past accomplishment: She was the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, a public military college in South Carolina that admitted only men until a 1995 federal court ruling mandated change.
In a post on X, she stated that this experience shapes her views on transgender issues:
"I didn't fight like hell to become the first woman to graduate from The Citadel just for some man in a miniskirt to take away that achievement. Protecting women's accomplishments isn't a political talking point for me—it's personal."
You can see her post below.
While Mace's views on transgender issues are very much aligned with the far-right, it didn't take long for one prominent far-right figure to take issue with her post.
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh—who has falsely claimed that "millions" of children are on hormone blockers—shut her down, making clear that he sees Mace as the "beneficiary of a DEI program," another reason, in his mind, to oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
He wrote:
"The girlboss feminism routine isn’t just cringy. It also directly undermines our argument. The Citadel was a male-only space forced by law to admit females in the name of diversity and inclusion. That is the exact argument trans-identifying males use to invade female spaces."
"Nancy Mace was literally a beneficiary of a DEI program. It’s a ridiculous and tone deaf thing to brag about in this moment."
You can see his post below.
He later ranted against feminism, blaming it for the current culture war surrounding transgender issues:
"We rightly lament the death of female only spaces. But male only spaces died long before, thanks in part to the efforts of Nancy Mace."
"Feminism set the stage for transgenderism. The feminists were the first to deny the fundamental and inherent differences between the sexes, and the value of sex segregation in many aspects of society. Feminists are largely to blame for the very problem that some of them now campaign against."
You can see his posts below.
Walsh's followers agreed.
And many others also felt similarly, showing that Mace, whether she likes it or not, can't please even her fellow transphobes.
Mace is fighting a losing battle where her party is concerned, given that its members have shown her quite clearly who they are time and again.
Mace was once accused by Republicans of supporting transgender rights because she wore a tuxedo to the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. One in particular suggested her choice was odd because "our culture continues to undermine women by celebrating men who pretend to be them."
She was also the target of right-wing backlash after she appeared at her fellow South Carolina Republican Representative Tim Scott's prayer breakfast and joked that she'd sacrificed a morning quickie to make it to work on time.
Mace, who said she turned down her fiancé even though he "tried to pull me by my waist over this morning in bed" was later called out by the GOP for admitting she, an adult woman, has a sex life outside of marriage.
@JennJVN/X