Nancy Mace’s Favorite Target in Congress Roasts the ‘Top Bathroom Sheriff’s’ Bruising Primary Loss

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) took a swipe at outgoing Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) after Mace lost her bid for governor of South Carolina with a bruising fifth-place finish in Tuesday night’s GOP primary.

McBride, who made history as the first transgender member of the House, spoke at the Equality PAC’s sixth annual National Pride Gala in D.C. as the votes were being counted in South Carolina, and offered her take on the race.

“My colleague and Congress’s top bathroom sheriff, Nancy Mace, is on the ballot. And while all of the votes have not yet been counted, she’s in a respectful 5th place,” McBride told the audience to cheers.

“I don’t like to punch down, and I believe in the politics of grace, so I’ll just say, Happy Pride, Nancy,” added McBride.

Mace, who once said she “strongly” supported transgender rights, targeted McBride with a resolution in 2024 before the Delaware Democrat had even been sworn in.

Mace’s resolution sought to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms inside the U.S. Capitol, by forbidding members from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

“This is a blatant attempt from far-right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on,” McBride responded on social media at the time.

Mace’s defeat on Tuesday night marks the likely end to a once-promising career for the lawmaker widely seen as a rising star in the GOP just a few years ago.

The Washington Post’s Natalie Allison had covered Mace extensively over the years and spoken to former members of her staff who publicly denounced the congresswoman. Allison wrote of Mace’s defeat that “her downfall and isolation followed years of brazen political opportunism, a hunger for media attention at any cost, rejecting advisers’ counsel and turning on many allies, more than a dozen former aides, colleagues and supporters in both South Carolina and Washington said in interviews.”

Watch the clip above.

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