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Nancy Mace Returns for Her Last Weeks in Congress: A Hegseth Impeachment Vote, an Epstein Petition and a Seat Gone Blue

Congress returns Nov. 9 for a five-week lame-duck session, and Rep. Nancy Mace is back for her final weeks before she leaves the House on Jan. 3. Rep. Thomas Massie is expected to force a vote this week on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On Nov. 6 Mace posted: 'Pete Hegseth is not to blame for the Iran war.' Her seat goes to Democrat Nancy Lacore, the retired Navy vice admiral Hegseth fired last year. Mace is one of four Republicans on Massie's second Epstein files petition, which is two signatures short. Here is what is on her plate this week, what she has said about each item, and what the record shows.

Screenshot of Nancy Mace's Nov. 6, 2026 post on X: 'Pete Hegseth is not to blame for the Iran war.' It quotes an AF Post post about White House aides and Hegseth.
Screenshot of Nancy Mace's Nov. 6, 2026 post on X: 'Pete Hegseth is not to blame for the Iran war.' It quotes an AF Post post about White House aides and Hegseth.

Monday, November 9, 2026.

Congress comes back today for a five-week lame-duck session, and Nancy Mace returns for her last weeks in the House. ABC News lists what is waiting: a likely vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a second Epstein files petition she signed, Republican leadership elections, and a Dec. 11 deadline to fund the government. Below is each item, what she has said about it, and what the record shows.

Sources: ABC News, "Congress returns for crowded lame-duck session as Hegseth impeachment, government funding deadline loom," Nov. 9, 2026, and Roll Call's week ahead, Nov. 9. We read Mace's posts on X on Nov. 9. Earlier Maceopedia dispatches are linked where we rely on them.

Where she stands

Mace leaves the House on Jan. 3, 2027, at the end of her third term. She gave up the seat to run for governor and finished fifth in the June 9 Republican primary (our record).

Her seat flipped. The Associated Press called the First District for Democrat Nancy Lacore at 6:51 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, with Lacore at 49.7 percent to Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt's 48.6 percent and 99 percent of the vote counted (Washington Examiner). Trump won the district by 13 points in 2024 (WCIV).

Lacore is a retired Navy vice admiral and a former chief of the Navy Reserve. WCIV reports that Hegseth fired her last year without explanation. Orientation for members-elect began Sunday.

On Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 9:30 p.m. ET, Mace's official account posted:

Serving the people of South Carolina's First District has been the privilege of a lifetime.

If you need anything between now and our final day in office, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to help.

1. A vote on impeaching Pete Hegseth

What is happening. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who lost his own primary this year, is expected to bring back a privileged resolution with eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. ABC says he could move as early as Monday, "teeing up a showdown midweek." Under House rules the House must take the resolution up within two days, though it can vote to table it or send it to committee (Fox News). Massie first filed the articles in September. The House left town a day early that week, and the articles expired without a vote (Fox News; The Washington Sun). So Mace has never voted on them.

Hakeem Jeffries, expected to be the next speaker, said Sunday: "I'm a hard 'yes' on the Hegseth resolution" (Roll Call). ABC reports that several Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, have said the Iran war led to the party's midterm losses, and that Trump said Thursday he intends to keep Hegseth. In a video posted Thursday, Hegseth said: "A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democratic allies has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly."

What Mace has said. On Sept. 2, MeidasTouch correspondent Pablo Manriquez asked her near the Capitol about Hegseth's firings of senior officers. "Clearly, we need to streamline and make more efficient the Pentagon, and that's what Pete Hegseth is doing," she said. She added: "And there's something to be said for the morale of, I think, you know, getting rid of some of those generals or forcing their retirement" (as quoted in a report published on Yahoo News).

Three days after the election, at 12:01 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, she quoted an AF Post post. It cited an unnamed "Senior WH official" who said White House aides were leaking damaging information "to scapegoat Hegseth" for the midterm defeat. Mace wrote:

Pete Hegseth is not to blame for the Iran war.

What we could verify: The post is hers, from her personal account. We have not verified AF Post's account of the White House. The woman taking Mace's seat in January is one of the officers Hegseth removed.

2. The Iran war, the defense bill and the money

What is happening. Government funding runs out after Dec. 11. Congress must also pass the National Defense Authorization Act, the yearly Pentagon policy bill, before the end of 2026. ABC reports that "disputes about funding for the war in Iran could come to a head" as that deadline nears. Renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and passing the expired farm bill are also on the list.

Mace sits on the House Armed Services Committee, which writes the House version of the defense bill.

What Mace has said. On March 5, 2026, she voted against a war powers resolution on Iran and said: "This is not the time for Congress to tie the hands of our Commander-in-Chief. We must finish the job." On Sept. 15 she was one of seven Republicans who voted for a third resolution directing the president to pull U.S. forces out of hostilities with Iran. It passed 220 to 204 (our record).

Since the election she has posted:

  • Nov. 5, 10:01 a.m. ET, @RepNancyMace: "American strength on the world stage doesn't require another forever war."
  • Nov. 7, 4:38 p.m. ET, @NancyMace: "Ten days into the Iran war, I was overseas with @greybullrescue bringing Americans home. Here's what I said in March. Nobody wanted to hear it then."
  • Nov. 8, 7:42 a.m. ET, @NancyMace, replying to a post about the 2028 presidential race: "Iran war. No thanks. I will not support anyone who supported this war. The country won't either. Logically. It will not be Rubio or Vance, if it is, we lose in 2028 100%."

Two days before that last post, she had written that Hegseth "is not to blame for the Iran war."

On the defense bill, her official account posted on Nov. 4: "We secured an amendment in the House-passed NDAA to ensure biological males never compete in women's sports at Department of War Education Activity schools."

What to watch: The final defense bill is negotiated between the House and the Senate. Amendments in one chamber's version can be kept or dropped. Whether hers survives will show in the final text.

3. Epstein files, round two

What is happening. Massie's discharge petition for the Epstein Files Transparency Act II has 216 signatures. It needs 218 to force a floor vote over the speaker's objection (ABC). The bill would let state attorneys general, victims and members of Congress sue the U.S. attorney general in federal court for unlawfully withholding or redacting Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell records. On Oct. 8 Massie said two Democrats who had been out sick had pledged to sign (Spectrum News).

Her part. Mace is one of four Republicans on the petition, with Massie, Ralph Norman and Brian Fitzpatrick (ABC; The Washington Sun). ABC calls all four lame ducks. In 2025 she was one of the four Republicans who signed the first Epstein petition. That bill passed the House 427 to 1. She has said Trump endorsed Pamela Evette for governor because of that vote: "That's the sole reason I didn't get the endorsement, because I voted to release the Epstein files, and I'm OK with that" (The 19th). That is her explanation.

On Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. ET, her official account posted:

The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed to end the cover-ups, not continue them. Anyone who enabled or participated in Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes against women and children must be exposed, prosecuted, and put behind bars.

No excuses.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has acknowledged "mistakes" in redacting some victims' names and told the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 15, "We -- we complied with the act" (ABC).

4. Republican leadership elections

Speaker Mike Johnson will not run for Republican leader in the next Congress. On Tuesday, House Republicans choose between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan in a closed-door vote (ABC; Roll Call). Mace will not serve in that Congress.

In August, Scalise came to Charleston to campaign for Honeycutt, the Republican nominee for Mace's seat. A source in Honeycutt's campaign said Mace was "Absolutely... not invited" (our record).

5. Will she be there?

Roll Call writes that "among the immediate questions is whether the demoralized GOP will face attendance woes." Fox News's Chad Pergram: "Members who lost, or were shocked that they lost, might not show up." On a close vote such as Hegseth's, attendance can decide the result.

Mace's record this year: through Sept. 16 she was recorded Not Voting on 103 of 314 House roll calls, or 32.8 percent. Only two members missed a larger share (our count from the Clerk's record). This week's roll calls will show whether she votes on Hegseth.

6. What ends with her term

  • The House Ethics review. On March 2, 2026, the House Ethics Committee opened a review of her lodging reimbursements. That followed a finding by the Office of Congressional Conduct of "substantial reason to believe" she "engaged in improper reimbursement practices." Mace has called the probe retaliation, and her lawyer called the report "fundamentally flawed." In news searches on Nov. 9 we found no announced result. The committee's reach ends when a member leaves. After Matt Gaetz resigned in 2024, its chairman said "the committee no longer has jurisdiction" (CBS News). The panel still released its Gaetz report a month later (NPR).
  • Her bills. Congress.gov shows she has sponsored 204 bills and resolutions since 2021. One became law, naming a post office (our record). A second, the Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act, has passed the House and the Senate (WCIV, Oct. 3). When we last checked, on Oct. 15, it had not yet been sent to the President. She is still filing new bills. On Nov. 5 she introduced the Clothing Microplastic Transparency Act. A bill that has not passed both chambers when this Congress ends on Jan. 3 dies and would have to be filed again.

What to watch this week

  • Whether Massie offers the Hegseth resolution, and whether the House impeaches, tables it or sends it to committee. How Mace votes, and whether she is there to vote.
  • Whether the last two signatures go on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II petition.
  • The House Republican leader vote on Tuesday.
  • Progress on government funding before Dec. 11, and on the defense bill.

Sources

Nancy Mace Returns for Her Last Weeks in Congress: A Hegseth Impeachment Vote, an Epstein Petition and a Seat Gone Blue: image 1
Nancy Mace Returns for Her Last Weeks in Congress: A Hegseth Impeachment Vote, an Epstein Petition and a Seat Gone Blue: image 2
Nancy Mace Returns for Her Last Weeks in Congress: A Hegseth Impeachment Vote, an Epstein Petition and a Seat Gone Blue: image 3