Mace fundraises off of her vote to oust McCarthy

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) sent out a fundraising message shortly after her vote to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House on Tuesday.

Mace released a statement after the vote Tuesday, also distributed as a fundraising message to supporters, celebrating her decision and criticizing McCarthy.

“Today I voted for the Motion to Vacate and remove the Speaker. This isn’t about left vs right. This isn’t about ideology. This is about trust and keeping your word. This is about making Congress do its job,” she said.

Mace was one of eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy. It was the first time a Speaker was removed from the role by vote.

The group of Republicans generally cited McCarthy’s choice to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government on Saturday as the reason for his ousting.

“The Speaker has not lived up to his word on how the House would operate. No budget, no separate spending bills until it was too late, a CR which takes spending power out of the hands of the people and puts all the power into the hands of a select few,” she said.

Mace also cited McCarthy’s inaction on women’s issues. In an interview with reporters after the vote, she said McCarthy failed to advance her bill regarding rape kits, an issue important to her.

“I made deals with Kevin McCarthy, with the speaker, that he has not kept to help women in this country. And we have done nothing for them,” she said. “Or a survivor of rape, and I worked all year on a rape kit bill that hasn’t seen the time of day, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is as a woman in this Congress, in this Capitol, to have that happen.”

“If you make a promise, you should keep it. And if you promise women you’re going to help them, then you damn well better do it,” she continued. “So as a fiscal conservative, I’m angry. As a woman, I am deeply frustrated.”

Mace previously criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for fundraising off his efforts to prevent McCarthy’s election as Speaker in January. Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate the speakership on Monday.