Mace: Republicans ‘will lose next year’ if moderates are bullied into conservative positions

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Monday that Republicans will lose in 2024 if moderates are bullied into conservative positions on topics like abortion or an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. 

When asked on CNN’s “The Source” whether making moderate Republicans vote for a Biden impeachment would jeopardize their seats, Mace said, “Oh 100 percent it puts them at risk.” 

“But also, Biden-district Republicans are the reason that Republicans are in the majority, have the slim majority that we have today,” she continued. “And if we want to keep that majority, we have to keep those folks in their seats.”

“You don’t do that by making Republicans and moderate districts walk the plank on abortion, walk the plank on women’s issues, walk the plank on birth control, walk the plank on an impeachment vote, like those are all reasons why we will lose next year if we continue down that path,” the congresswoman added.

Mace responded to recent comments made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) by arguing the Republican conference needs “to stop allowing Biden-district Republicans to hold up our agenda.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins then asked Mace the reason behind having an impeachment inquiry if it puts a Republican majority at risk, to which the South Carolina Republican pointed to the difference between an impeachment inquiry and a vote. 

“An inquiry is an investigative tool, it’s different from an impeachment,” Mace said. “On the impeachment side, you know, the House would investigate, the Senate would essentially hold a trial.”

“But no, I mean the Senate’s not going to hold a trial, there’s not going to be 60 votes, it’s not happening,” she added.

Maintaining that an impeachment vote is “totally separate,” Mace said she would support an impeachment inquiry at this point, specifically to look at Biden’s bank records.   

Republicans have been divided over impeaching Biden, with some lawmakers clamoring for it and others saying the conference has bigger things to focus on.

House Republicans in recent months have embarked on a widespread investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, looking into his time on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was vice president. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has signaled in recent weeks that these investigations could rise to the level of an impeachment inquiry into the president.