For Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, it seemed like a match made in Heaven.
The 46-year-old mother of two was stunned in May 2022 when her entrepreneur boyfriend Patrick Bryant got down on one knee and asked if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
But less than 18 months since that heartwarming proposal, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that the couple have split and are now in the middle of a messy legal battle over the multi-million dollar homes they bought together.
The South Carolina lawmaker — who was one of eight to vote out former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a historic vote — parted ways with Charleston software magnate Bryant last month, according to four sources.
Since they broke up, their rift has worsened, and now they are fighting over a $3.9 million beachfront house with six bedrooms and a pool and a $1.3 million house in Washington, D.C. where they both have shares in.
'I'm not Taylor Swift. Nobody cares about my relationship status,” Mace said in response to DailyMail.com's questions about the dispute.
The 46-year-old mother of two was stunned in May 2022 when her entrepreneur boyfriend Patrick Bryant got down on one knee and asked if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Since they split, their rift has worsened, and now they're fighting over a $3.9 million beachfront property up there, with six bedrooms and a pool, and a $1.3 million house in Washington , DC, in which they both have shares.
Public records show that neither Mace nor Bryant have filed a lawsuit, although three sources familiar with the situation say Mace is expected to take legal action against the homes.
It comes just days after Mace faced an exodus from her office on Capitol Hill. Six employees resigned, claiming she runs a “toxic” office.
The former couple, both socialites from the Charleston area, got engaged in 2022 after two years of dating.
Mace, one of the House's most colorful members since her election in 2020, sparred with the former president, leading to an all-out MAGA war against her before joining Trump this cycle and reportedly looking at his running mate spot.
She stood out from her colleagues with antics such as wearing a jacket that read: “My state bans EXCEPTIONS, Protect CONTRACEPTION” and after voting to impeach former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, she donned a shirt with a scarlet 'A' on it. Since then, she has become a fixture on cable news.
Two well-known sources said that Mace has claimed that she found Bryant on a dating app when they were still together, which led to their split.
Bryant told DailyMail.com that he had not been active on a dating app since he and Nancy met, but recently redownloaded the app long enough to delete an old profile that still appeared.
“The status of our relationship is no one's business,” he added. “We have more important things to focus on as a country.”
Bryant is co-founder of software development company Code/+/Trust. He has served on a number of local boards, including as chairman of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
While dating Bryant, Mace often openly discussed her sex life in the office, including in the presence of male junior staffers, according to three sources who recalled such comments in graphic detail to DailyMail.com.
“She frequently made sexual references in the office and discussed things that were inappropriate in a work environment,” said a former senior staffer.
If any of her employees were to officially complain about her behavior, she could be subject to an ethics investigation.
Trouble is brewing on the home front as Mace lost three more staffers this week.
Days ago, the congresswoman fired her chief of staff, Dan Hanlon and deputy chief of staff, Richard Chalkey, and legislative director Randal Meyer, who resigned, as first reported by the Washington Examiner. Three other junior staffers have left in recent months.
Mace blamed her playful fiancé for being late for a prayer breakfast this summer, joking about premarital sex in a religious faux pas.
The 45-year-old congresswoman said she woke up at 7 a.m. and had just 45 minutes to prepare for the annual event, which brought together lawmakers from across South Carolina and took place on Capitol Hill.
After losing six staffers in a matter of months, Rep. Nancy Mace and her fiancé have split and are now embroiled in a messy dispute over the multi-million dollar homes they bought together.
“Patrick, my fiancé, tried to pull me by the waist in bed this morning,” Mace told the crowd. “And I thought, 'No, honey, we don't have time for that this morning, I have to go to the prayer breakfast and I have to be on time,'” she recalled.
She got some chuckles from the audience, noting that she was a “little TMI.”
“He can wait!” Mace said laughing. “I'll see him later tonight.”
Mace has been described in the past as a “rising star” among Republican women. She is a self-described frequent face in the media and has been invited to give keynote addresses at posh events and fundraisers in Washington, such as last year's Congressional Dinner at the Washington Press Club.
While she is moderate on social issues – she has stood up for access to contraception and finding a “middle ground” on abortion – she has lurched to the right on spending and the work of the oversight committee, leading the indictment against Hunter Biden.
She is often threatened to break ranks and vote against Republican leadership legislation before lining up shortly before the vote.
But the self-described “caucus of one” has few friends on Capitol Hill, especially since they voted to oust McCarthy.
Since she began to distrust her chief of staff and eventually fired him, the staffers she once relied on to set policy and get her on national television have since abandoned her.
A source familiar with the situation emphasized to DailyMail.com that the relationship between Mace and her former boss Hanlon took a turn for the worse after McCarthy called Hanlon in as speaker during a memorable final press conference.
McCarthy called Mace's superior when he realized she would vote to impeach him, claiming he had not kept his word to her.
“So I call her chief of staff… I said, 'Can you please tell me I don't understand? Where have I not kept my word?' McCarthy explained. “The Chief of Staff said, 'You kept your word 100%. ''
“She didn't understand that things in the House of Representatives don't necessarily move very quickly,” the source said of Mace.
“I'm biting my lip,” McCarthy added. 'I make people say things that aren't true. But it's not right. It is not good. Her chief of staff told us all that we have kept all our words. And he said he told her that too.”
The night McCarthy made the comment, Mace and her supervisor went together to a “see and be seen” bar on Capitol Hill, Bullfeathers, to demonstrate that they were not letting the ousted speaker come between them. But the source said Mace began to “freeze up” that night and “distrusted” him.
They said Mace's office essentially set her policy agenda because she was focused on media attention.
“It all started with media attention,” the source said. 'We were free to set the legislative agenda. She was pretty hands-off during the process, which is pretty cool for a staffer. She was more focused on reaching Fox News.”
Mace is twice divorced and has two children with her second husband.
Bryant surprised the congresswoman in May 2022 by tricking her into thinking she was knocking on doors for her congressional campaign and filming it to use in a future political ad.
Instead, she opened a door and Bryant appeared.
“I literally thought I was filming b-roll, and I'm not!” Mace said, according to The State.
She told Bryant yes.
Representative Nancy Mace talks to the media after winning the Republican Party primary in South Carolina on June 14, 2022
Representative Nancy Mace (left) poses with her fiancé Patrick Bryand (right) during a gala. The couple had been dating for several years before he popped the question last May, while she was going through a tough primary campaign
Her happiness lasted until 2022.
In June, she survived a tough primary after getting on former President Donald Trump's bad side.
Mace had voted to certify the 2020 election and criticized Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but she did not vote to impeach the ex-president for his role in the “insurrection.”
She defeated Trump-backed challenger Katie Arrington by about 8 points.
Mace went on to win the November general election against Democrat Annie Andrews by 14 points.