An extensive staff handbook for aides to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has been obtained by The Daily Beast — and it reveals that the congresswoman obsesses extensively about her public image and demands a "quota" of time she should be appearing on TV.
According to politics reporter Jake Lahut, a strategy memo she wrote in 2021 describes her as "The freshman thought leader on federal issues," and added, “Nancy is ‘thoughtful’ and ‘hard-working’ on issues important to the Lowcountry.” It encourage staffers to use the nickname "National Nancy."
The handbook given to aides demands that her office circulates at least one press release per day, that she be booked on TV at least one to three times per day or at least nine times per week, and that they help her file “25 new bills per year,” pass “10 bills out of the floor of the House annually” and have one bill “signed into law annually.”
Notably, all the sections clarifying how to boost her national profile take up much more space than the sections on providing constituent services.
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According to Lahut, one former aide to Mace said they found themselves constantly asking, “Are we in a PR firm, or working for a member of Congress?” Another said, “She talks about ‘principles’ and ‘standing up for the people,’ but at the end of the day all she cares about is maintaining her weird C-list celebrity status by any means necessary.”
Mace, who has emphasized her rise from a high-school dropout working at a Waffle House to the halls of Congress, was one of eight Republicans who provided the deciding votes to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the House speakership earlier this month, kicking off several weeks of GOP chaos and infighting until Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was selected.
Oddly, Mace said she rejected McCarthy in part due to his unwillingness to compromise on women's issues, but then voted to confirm Johnson despite the fact he called for up to 10 years' hard labor for anyone who performs abortions at any stage and for any reason.
During her stints on TV, Mace has also been caught making contradictory claims to various anchors depending on the audience. In late 2021, for example, she gave an interview opposing COVID-19 vaccines on Fox News, and then just hours later gave another interview on CNN urging everyone to be vaccinated.
