Daily Kos84%
Nancy Mace opts not to lose race for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat 35%
By Emily Singer83%
7/21/2026, 9:30:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Unattributed Quote, and Optimism Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 19.3% saturation with 101 hits. Analysis detected 799 faulty-reasoning hits from 522 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.1% and a BS Rank of 35% (12,703 of 19,443 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 65.30% of the article peer group.
Rep.
Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced Monday night that she is not running for the late Sen.
Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat, declining to join a crowded field of Republicans who have already launched bids.
Mace said in a post on X that she isn’t running because she is instead going to spend her time fighting for female victims of sexual abuse.
“I’m not running for the Senate—because I have some unfinished business.
Since I stood on that House floor, I’ve been fighting for every woman and girl who was told to stay silent.
I want justice—and that day is coming,” Mace wrote, along with a video announcing her decision not to run.
Related | Nancy Mace’s political career goes down the toilet
Mace's reasoning sounds noble.
However, while she may indeed be planning to help female sexual abuse survivors, the most likely reason why she did not enter the race is simple: She wasn’t going to win.
Mace just came in a distant fifth place in a crowd of five contenders for South Carolina's open gubernatorial contest.
It was an embarrassing showing for a sitting lawmaker, as Mace did not carry a single county in the state—even the ones in her own congressional district.
That loss came as elected South Carolina leaders expressed concern over Mace's conduct, after she berated airport employees who she demanded special treatment from, and then launched a months-long effort to blame others for her actions.
She was then snubbed by President Donald Trump, who endorsed Lt.
Gov.
Pam Evette, putting the final nail in the coffin for Mace’s once front-running campaign.
Meanwhile, an Emerson College poll conducted right after Graham's death found Mace in third in a crowd of eight.
But that was before Trump endorsed Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, and encouraged her to run for a full term to succeed her brother.
And thus it was hard to see what Mace's path was going to be.
As delusional as Mace can be, she likely came to that conclusion as well.
As for who will be the ultimate GOP nominee, that is up in the air.
While Trump endorsed Nordone, who officially announced her bid on Monday, two House Republicans also launched bids: Reps.
Russell Fry and Ralph Norman.
More candidates could join in the coming days, including Lt.
Gov.
Pam Evette and former South Carolina Gov.
Mark Sanford.
And GOP operatives in South Carolina said that they expect the race to be competitive, and that Trump backing Nordone—who has not been a political person and could have a difficult time proving her conservative bona fides—might not be enough to get her over the finish line.
In fact, Trump endorsed Evette in the governor's race a few weeks ago, only for Evette to lose by a landslide in a runoff election in the Palmetto State.
“There is a desire to avoid yet another bruising Republican primary, right after we had a pretty contentious one for governor,” Joel Sawyer, a South Carolina Republican strategist, told Politico.
“But I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.