Part of: The House Ethics reimbursement investigation (2025-2026) · House Ethics Committee Investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace (OCC Review 25-5681)
Rare Earth, Wellness, and Defense Tech: Nancy Mace's Post-Congress Wish List
Maceopedia ·
In the same breath she used to say she wants to "whittle sticks," Nancy Mace named the fields she plans to explore once she leaves Congress. Per South Carolina Public Radio's Maayan Schechter, those interests are:
rare earth minerals and metals, wellness and defense technology
The Armed Services Connection
Two of those three fields are shaped directly by the federal government Mace has spent six years helping to run. She currently sits on the House Armed Services Committee, where her subcommittee assignments include Seapower and Projection Forces, Intelligence and Special Operations, and Military Personnel, according to her own House committee page.
Rare earth minerals and "defense technology" are not neutral hobbies. Rare earths are a stated national-security priority tied to defense-industrial policy, and defense technology is procured through the same Pentagon budget that Armed Services members authorize each year. A member who votes on defense and industrial policy naming those exact sectors as her private-sector future is the textbook shape of what ethics watchdogs call the revolving door.
Maceopedia takes no position on whether any future venture would be improper. We are cataloging what she said, and noting the overlap between her committee work and her stated business interests.
The One-Year Clock
Mace cannot act on any of this yet. As she explained on the We The Palmetto podcast on August 13, members of Congress are barred from signing an employment contract until after they leave office:
"Members of Congress are not allowed to sign a contract for a gig or a job until after they've left Congress."
Federal law also imposes post-employment "cooling off" restrictions on former members who lobby. Her term ends in January 2027, which is when any rare-earth, wellness, or defense-tech move could formally begin.
Context
Mace did not seek re-election in 2026, running instead for governor and losing the June Republican primary. She has already stood up the GET MACED podcast as a media venture and told business leaders in Washington she plans to "probably start some companies" after leaving office.
Sources & Related Coverage
- South Carolina Public Radio, "SC Congresswoman Nancy Mace says she's ready for life outside of political office" (Aug. 20, 2026), by Maayan Schechter
- Rep. Nancy Mace, Committees and Caucuses (mace.house.gov)
- Nancy Mace, Congress.gov member page
- Maceopedia: "I Kind of Want to Whittle Sticks": Mace Says She's Done With Elected Office
- Maceopedia: "Not That I Had a Filter Before": Mace Plans Companies and Commentary After Congress
Maceopedia: Cataloging the internet record about Nancy Mace.
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July 22, 2026 · Dispatch"How self-loathing are they": Mace asks "how many Jews voted for Mamdani," doubles down when Piers Morgan calls it "an extraordinary charge." Israel's UN ambassador, asked twice, declines to agree.
On the July 22, 2026 episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Rep. Nancy Mace reacted to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's call for the federal government to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu by asking "how many Jews voted for Mamdani," calling Jewish New Yorkers who backed him "self-loathing," and saying she is perplexed by "this guy coming to America eight years ago from Kampala." Mamdani moved to New York in 1999, at age 7; eight years ago matches his 2018 naturalization, not his arrival. When Morgan called her words "an extraordinary charge," Mace repeated them. Later in the same episode Morgan put her quote to Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon twice; Danon declined to agree both times.
November 4, 2026 · DispatchNancy Mace on Election Night: 'The Only Thing Worse Than Being Fed a Pile of Sh*t Is Being Asked to Swallow It'
Rep. Nancy Mace spent election night on Piers Morgan Uncensored's live panel in Washington. Watching the House seat she is leaving slip toward a Democrat, she said, 'I just found out, we're losing my seat,' and then, 'the only thing worse than being fed a pile of shit is being asked to swallow it.' When CBS called South Carolina's Senate race for Democrat Annie Andrews, she said, 'It's not unfucking real,' and added, 'Sorry, you said I could curse.' Two hours earlier she had said of Andrews, 'This was not a hard race.' She was not on the ballot. She said she won the seat by 18 points in 2024; it was 16.6. She called herself one of 'the only four Republicans who voted to release the Epstein files'; the House vote was 427 to 1, and the four were the Republicans who signed the discharge petition. Every quote below is checked against the broadcast audio.
November 4, 2026 · DispatchNancy Mace's Bill Says Losing Plaintiffs Pay. Her Replies Asked: What About the Falsely Accused?
Rep. Nancy Mace has promoted her Speak Your Truth Act, H.R. 10783, in nine X posts since October 12. The bill would make a plaintiff who loses a federal defamation suit over a statement about sexual assault, harassment or discrimination pay the defendant's lawyers. We read the 445 replies X showed under those posts. 37 asked about people who are falsely accused, and 21 more pointed to her own accusations; 47 supported the bill. The accusations her replies raised include the ones she made from the House floor on February 10, 2025. The only defamation suit over those that has ended, Brian Musgrave's, was decided in federal court on immunity, with the judge offering 'no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness' of her allegations. The state's prosecutors did weigh the evidence. In August, Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wrote that SLED's report 'offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime,' Solicitors Duffie Stone and Kevin Brackett concurred, and Brackett wrote that Musgrave 'is completely innocent.' He was never charged. The bill has no cosponsors and has not moved since October 9.