Nancy Mace defends vote against McCarthy over broken promises

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) defended her vote against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday, claiming her vote was over broken promises from McCarthy, as opposed to being ideological, and saying she followed through despite the consequences.

Mace outlined some of the empty promises from the former speaker, including starting too late on individual spending bills to get them passed and not setting the budget over the summer.

MCCARTHY OUSTED IN HISTORIC VOTE TO STRIP HIM OF SPEAKERSHIP

“Today I voted for the motion to vacate and remove the speaker,” Mace said in a statement.

“This isn’t about left vs. right. This isn’t about ideology. This is about trust and keeping your word. This is about making Congress do its job. I promised the Lowcountry I would be an independent voice in Congress. That I would call the balls and strikes and do the right thing regardless of party. The speaker has not lived up to his word on how the House would operate.”

Mace admitted that she voted against 95% of her party, but she said there were topics that she was promised would be covered that had not been covered. Among these topics were women’s issues and safety.

“I had been fighting for women’s rights since before I ever came to Congress. And when Roe v. Wade was overturned, I continued that fight and I’ve made deals with Kevin McCarthy, with the speaker, that he has not kept to help women in this country,” Mace told reporters.

“We have done nothing for them. And I come from South Carolina — when you shake my hand and you make a promise and you don’t keep it, there are consequences to those actions.”

Mace admitted that she did not have a specific replacement in mind to take over for McCarthy, but she said that there were several candidates who would make good options. Mace said she was looking for a candidate who would keep their word and be honest with United States voters.

“The reason we’re in the place today, this whole country is chaos right now, is because we have leaders that have divided us and not brought us together. We want to be united, but we’ve got to have leadership that we can trust,” Mace said.

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Mace added that it would be difficult to replace McCarthy with just under 45 days until the next deadline for a government shutdown. McCarthy was tossed from the speaker’s chair just days after he passed a continuing resolution that averted a shutdown this weekend. All Democrats chose to oust the former speaker, and a handful of hard-line Republicans voted against him as well.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has been selected to fill in as speaker until another one is selected