Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) hinted that she will endorse former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for president in 2024.
“I have two constituents who are going to be running and I love them both,” Mace told Punchbowl News at a May 17 event in Washington, referring to Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who has founded an exploratory committee and is expected to launch a presidential campaign in the near future.
“I have not weighed in on 2024 yet. I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve. I want to see a woman on the ticket. I think it’s past time,” she continued. “I don’t want Democrats to beat us to the punch on a female president. I have a daughter, I’m a girl mom, and I’ve worked really hard to break glass ceilings, so I’m very proud of Nikki. She’s all in for the presidency.”
The Haley campaign declined to comment.
Mace has shattered many glass ceilings. In 1999, she was the first woman to graduate from the military college The Citadel and, in 2018, she became the first female Republican in South Carolina elected to Congress.
Mace expressed admiration for Scott and said she attends church with him.
“He’s the nicest human being on Earth,” she said.
Nonetheless, Mace held off on endorsing a candidate for the White House at the moment. She said that she will wait to see how the field takes shape and that it is early in the campaign season.
In addition to Haley, other GOP presidential candidates include former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Perry Johnson, commentator Larry Elder (who hosted a show on Epoch TV and NTD), and pastor Ryan Binkley. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to declare his candidacy by the end of the month.
Mace would be the second member of Congress to endorse Haley, joining Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who announced his endorsement at Haley’s campaign announcement on Feb. 15. He even compared Haley to one of history’s most prominent conservative leaders.
“Nikki will be a leader with an iron fist in a velvet glove,” Norman said. “I believe Nikki Haley is America’s version of Margaret Thatcher.”
During the Punchbowl News event, Mace made other news, including saying that the GOP “can’t continue being [expletive] to women” on the abortion issue. She cited legislation of hers related to birth control and rape kits. She also lamented that her own party has been “losing on the policy front on gun violence” amid recent mass shootings.
