Nancy Mace: "We Have the Lowest Ratings Ever in the History," and She Predicts a Midterm "Bloodbath"
Caught in a Capitol hallway by CNN's Manu Raju on September 16, 2026, Nancy Mace was asked whether the public agrees the House did a great job before Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home for a seven-week pre-midterm recess. Her answer: 'No, actually not. We have the lowest ratings ever in the history.' She also predicted the 2026 midterms would be 'a bloodbath.'
Reporting relied on: 2paragraphs ("Nancy Mace Refutes Mike Johnson's Claim: 'Absolutely Not'"), September 2026, and the CNN hallway clip surfaced by @Acyn on X. Every quote below is verbatim from Nancy Mace's own on-camera CNN interview, confirmed against the footage.
On September 16, 2026, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent the House home with no more floor votes scheduled until after the November 3 midterms, a seven-week pre-election recess he defended by saying the chamber had done its work. CNN's Manu Raju stopped Nancy Mace (R-SC) in a Capitol hallway and put Johnson's claim to her directly.
The exchange, verbatim:
RAJU: "Do you think that the public thinks you guys have done such a great job?"
MACE: "No, actually not. We have the lowest ratings ever in the history."
That is a sitting member of the majority, on camera, saying the public does not believe Congress earned its early exit, and pointing to record-low approval to prove it.
Watch: the exchange, captioned
The footage is CNN's own reporting, aired on NewsNight, from Manu Raju's Capitol Hill interview. We cut it to this single exchange and captioned it. The CNN chyron on the broadcast reads, on its own, "SOME IN GOP BASH JOHNSON FOR EARLY EXIT, WARNS OF NOV 'BLOODBATH'."
The vertical cut, for phones:
"It's going to be a bloodbath"
Earlier in the same interview, Raju asked Mace what she made of the House leaving town until after the elections. She did not defend the schedule. She framed the recess as a favor to incumbents in both parties, then made a prediction about November:
MACE: "Democrats benefit from this as much as Republicans do. Everyone gets to go home and campaign. It's going to be a bloodbath."
She also drew the comparison to the private sector that other Republicans were making the same day: "If, in the business arena, if you leave town, you don't get paid, you don't work."
The context: a seven-week recess, and a Republican revolt over it
Mace was not the only Republican unhappy about the early dismissal. According to the reporting, Johnson had already canceled two weeks of September votes, stretching the pre-midterm break to roughly seven weeks with no additional House votes scheduled until after November 3.
- Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Johnson cut the schedule short to avoid floor votes on Massie's Epstein legislation and on an impeachment resolution targeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) made the same business-world point: leave town without working, and you should not get paid.
- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) noted the House was in session only 72 days that year, calling it "the laziest and least effective Congress."
Against that backdrop, Mace's answer to Raju was not a defense of the institution she serves in. It was an agreement with its critics: the public does not think Congress did a great job, and the numbers say so.
Sources and related coverage
- The report we relied on: 2paragraphs, "Nancy Mace Refutes Mike Johnson's Claim: 'Absolutely Not'," September 2026.
- The clip: CNN via @Acyn on X, September 16, 2026 (Manu Raju hallway interview, aired on CNN NewsNight).
- On the recess fight: Rep. Thomas Massie, statement on X, September 16, 2026.
This dispatch is criticism of Nancy Mace's public statements on a matter of public concern. Every quote is verbatim from her own on-camera CNN interview. Maceopedia takes no position on the merits of the House schedule or on any pending legislation referenced above.
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