Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) hinted she would say “yes” to becoming former President Donald Trump‘s pick for vice president should he offer, claiming anyone in her position would do so.
Mace, who is facing a competitive reelection this fall, said she thinks her position in Congress may keep Trump from picking her. She is one of several women rumored to be Trump’s pick as a running mate, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD).
“Anybody would say yes,” Mace told Politico. “But I — you know, when was the last time a House member became vice president? I mean, it just doesn’t happen.”
She added that she understands “women’s issues” will be a significant topic in the 2024 election. Mace has been vocal that her party needs to be more considerate of women when it comes to topics such as abortion.
“And I see an opportunity for me to be able to do that,” Mace said.
However, prominent Republicans are already questioning whether Mace will make it another term in the House, let alone serve as the leading Republican presidential candidate’s running mate.
When asked about Mace and Stefanik as possible vice president options for Trump, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy immediately dismissed the South Carolina congresswoman.
“I don’t even think Nancy Mace can win reelection,” McCarthy added. “I don’t think she represents her district.”
Mace was one of eight Republicans who joined Democrats to oust McCarthy as speaker just nine months in. While seven of the GOP members blamed their vote on the September stopgap to avoid a government shutdown, Mace said McCarthy’s inaction on women’s topics was a large part of why she voted to remove him.
“I had been fighting for women’s rights since before I ever came to Congress,” Mace said following the vote to remove McCarthy. “And when Roe v. Wade was overturned, I continued that fight, and I’ve made deals with Kevin McCarthy, with the speaker, that he has not kept to help women in this country.”
Mace endorsed Trump for president in January in a slight to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who is the former governor of South Carolina and supported Mace’s reelection campaign in 2022. Trump had endorsed Mace’s primary challenger that year, so the endorsement came as a surprise to many.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) joined Mace in snubbing Haley when he endorsed Trump a week after being asked for an endorsement by Haley, who appointed him to his Senate seat in 2012.
Michael B. Moore, one of Mace’s Democratic challengers, has accused Mace’s “dance” between presenting herself as a centrist Republican and voting for hard-line Republican values of being a strategy to set herself up for higher office.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Mace is facing several GOP primary challengers, including Dan Hanlon, Mace’s former chief of staff, Austin Anderson, and Catherine Templeton, former director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Hanlon’s candidacy could prove a significant threat to Mace, whose seat ranks “lean Republican,” and give him an edge over his primary opponents, as it leaves her vulnerable to attacks by a figure more familiar with her internal workings than anyone else.