Nancy Mace reveals why she voted to oust McCarthy with shock vote: South Carolina Republicans says GOP leader ‘didn’t live up to his word’ – and the House needs a Speaker who ‘tells the truth’

On a day of tension in Congress, South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy stunned some of her colleagues by casting the seventh vote to leave the chair and oust Chairman McCarthy.

Mace had endorsed McCarthy in January when Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and other Republicans forced him to clear a string of votes to become chairman.

There were murmurs in the House on Tuesday as she announced her surprise vote, making her one of eight Republicans to push him out. She accused McCarthy of breaking his word.

“You promise to comply,” Mace told reporters outside the Capitol. As a fiscal conservative, I am angry. As a woman, I am deeply frustrated,” she said.

‘It’s not ideological. “It’s about having a leader in our country who tells the truth, who you can trust,” she said. ‘I’m looking for a speaker who tells the truth.’

She sent a seven-part tweet explaining her position.

‘Today I voted in favor of the motion to vacate and remove the chairman. This isn’t about left versus right. This is not about ideology. This is about trust and keeping your word. This is about letting Congress do its job,” she wrote in her post X.

McCarthy revealed clear frustration with Mace at a blunt news conference after announcing he would not put his name forward in an effort to regain the speakership.

“Nancy Mace is a whole different story,” he said, after speaking about another member who resisted his pleas for support.

He said he called Mace’s chief of staff to ask, “Where did I not keep my word?”

“Do you know what her chief of staff said? You kept her word 100 percent,” he said. He then joked that if the assistant is fired, “I’ll still give him a job.”

Mace, a cable TV regular, said after Jan. 6 that former President Donald Trump’s “entire legacy had been wiped away.”

Trump called her a “big loser” at the time.

But Mace, whose coastal district includes Charleston and Hilton Head, has moved closer to the MAGA base and defended Trump, who faces multiple charges.

“I promised the Low Country that I would be an independent voice in Congress. That I would call the balls and strikes and do the right thing, regardless of the game. The Speaker has not lived up to his word on how the House would function,” she wrote.

She blasted McCarthy for an inability to push through individual appropriations bills, which preceded the government shutdown crisis, with McCarthy proposing a temporary 45-day government funding measure that passed with Democratic support.

‘No budget, no separate expenditure accounts until it was too late, a CR that takes purchasing power out of the hands of the people and puts all power in the hands of a select few.’

She added: “There has also been no action on many issues that interest us and were promised to us. We were promised that we would take action on women’s issues and legislation to keep our communities safe. Those things never happened… With the current Speaker, this chaos will continue. We need a fresh start so we can get back to working with people without these distractions.”

She told reporters that McCarthy broke a promise to help women access contraception after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“Nancy Mace is the only member of the GOP YOLO caucus,” wrote Tim Miller of the Bulwark, using the term for You Only Live Once.

Hard-right conservatives were among those who voted to impeach McCarthy. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) voted to appoint him to turn off. ), Bob Good (R-Va.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), along with Mace.

Mace was among those who pursued Gaetz several months ago when he tried to torpedo McCarthy.

“Matt Gaetz is a fraud. “Every time he voted against Kevin McCarthy last week, he sent out an email to raise money,” she said said at the time.